


What Dreams May Become

by elensari



Series: Song of the Spheres [1]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/M, Major Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2014-03-17
Packaged: 2018-01-14 02:13:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 24,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1248925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elensari/pseuds/elensari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While making preparations to send Rose a message through to Pete's World, the Doctor and the TARDIS are exhausted and grieving her loss. A mysterious stranger(to the Doctor) unfolds into the TARDIS, and may be able to help...maybe. Post-Doomsday, definitely about to go AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Star Tides

**Author's Note:**

> This was the first story that I ever wrote and the time, I didn't have a beta. I hope you enjoy it, and if you feel so inclined, I'd love to know your thoughts. Thank you! :-)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's meet the Sphynx.

She was thoroughly enjoying herself.

The stellar winds and currents are fast as She skims through them. This star is just about to go nova and the shifting layers of star stuff, the dichotomy of expanding and collapsing energies, is a heady mixture to be riding. She loves playing in these tides. This particular star is unimportant, as things go-She doesn't really care. What is important, to a creature who can be all where and nowhere at once. At this instant, much of Her is here surfing the dying millennia of this star.

 _Not as much fun as playing with the Dust Divers in the stellar nurseries_ _. They look like a cross between Earth dolphins and Saturnyne millipedes as they leap in and out of the dust and rubble around newly formed stars. Stars just beginning to know themselves; helping them by cleaning up the debris; creating clear lanes for the light to shine out . Now that, is fun!_ she thinks to herself _._ Stars are not the best creatures to interact with. They 'think' and 'feel,' but only in the most basic of terms and are so slow. But they are generally nice, if always hungry.

She had noticed something tense about the area around this star, and decided to stay, observe it. There is something bothersome about the temporal currents; something is coming. Whatever is going to happen will be soon, so why not wait.

In Its final stages of life the convection currents that normally move the gas and energy around in intricate patterns are completely chaotic. The prominences are huge. They climb and collapse in an instant over the entire surface. She can't resist riding them. Pulling most of Herself to herself here takes only a moment. She looks like any other glob of superheated gas, except that she moves from one loop of plasma to the next like an enormous fire drake, a salamander of Earth legend.

_-Sadness; so alone.-_

That is strange. Where did that come from. It didn't feel like Her thought. Perhaps She has spent too long around this one particular star that is about to abandon this cycle of its life for a new one, or maybe it is linked to the temporal fluctuations. She pulls away from the star releasing the gas that she has allowed to cling to Herself.

- _So cold. Almost everything gone. Changing soon. The shift is coming.-_

The music of Its life is changing pitch and the singing of the gravities that make up Its layers is frantic. Soon It will throw off the useless and condense. At least that is what  _It_  hopes will happen. It feels like that is occurring, but It had once looked forward to children, and that had not worked out so well. It had wanted to watch their spinning little antics as they played around It, pushing and shoving, coalescing into jewels that would dance with It forever, but It had been greedy and there wasn't enough left for them. Maybe It will just explode and be done. It has been sad for a very long time.

She pulls further back feeling the tipping point come screaming up through the dimensions around Her. There is so much of Her here that she sheds tears for the sadness of this lonely star. Dark little points of condensed matter, tears of eternity. She is being silly, morose even. But She will wait. She has been here this long, She feels the star deserves at least one observer for Its rebirth, whether It knows She is there or not.

Slowly, like a lover gliding into bed, She softly feels a spreading of the dimensions near Her. It is a gentle touch, sliding its way across the fabric of Reality and then spreading it aside so that it/she can slip between the covers and make room for herself. She will always recognize this distortion. It is the same as her own, and She is surprised.

* * *

A/N:  **Now I know there are a million 10/Rose reunion stories out there, but this one refused to leave me alone.  I actually had the entire idea come to me in a dream.  I hope you like as much as I did writing it.  This is the first story in my Song of the Spheres 'verse.  I am currently working on the third. :-)  Cheers!**

 


	2. The Matriarch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sphynx and the TARDIS know each other.

Chapter Two The Matriarch

The TARDIS knows why they were here. She knows her Thief is dying, or at least he wants to die. Part of Her wants to die, too. She hopes that finally locating this star for him; the star whose dying sigh will be used to send his dying wish to another Universe, will help him; help them.

She hates feeling helpless. There is too much flux in all the possibilities surrounding her Thief right now, to know which one to choose. Which one to guide him to. Which one to throw him at, for that matter. She is so ALONE! She misses her Wolf--they both do.

Sighing to Herself, the TARDIS finishes materialising in orbit around this previously unimportant star that has just become her Thief's final hope for a bit of closure. As She finishes, She becomes aware of a very large disturbance just over...the  **Matriarch**!  **HERE**!

* * *

Oh, a Child! She has not felt one for so long. Had She forgotten? Impossible! She used to notice more of her Children, often. She loved the way they slid into Reality the same way She did, like a caress. Sometimes She would follow them around, observing what they were about. She would ask them about their lives and adventures.

Unfortunately most of these were boring, but Her Children were always happy and so funny! They had such great humor, always telling Her amusing stories of their … what did they call their companions?…Time Lords! That's right, Time Lords.

Which causes Her to remember Rassilon.

_Rassilon! So much Time had passed since he called. Called? Summoned? No. He...was...interesting, doing things that hadn't been done before, and that caused ripples, and She had noticed. Actions done by...well, done by...people/mortals/ephemerals. So brilliant, so driven, so entirely MAD! He was fascinating. It was the first time She had brought ALL of Herself to Herself and interacted with a 'person'. She made Herself 'visible'. She thought it would be such a lark. He called Her an Eternal. She didn't call Herself anything, but these beings were desperate to name things, so She let him, but Eternal wasn't enough; She knew who they were._

_He had thoughts and language; oh, She loved 'language'. Words, numbers, concepts, how limiting and yet thrilling, so...coherent! Using his language, She named herself, Sphynx. It felt appropriate. In his history the Sphynx guarded knowledge; delighted in it. Plucking the 'word' from his mind She liked it, now it was Hers. He had not expected that. He was used to being the impressive one._

_He was afraid of Her, but not enough to not ask for Her help/assistance. She was very intrigued by him. He stood there in the mouth of the cave he had brought Her to, trembling slightly and still he talked and talked. As She listened to him try to explain to Her the 'importance' of his needs, She could see that the tree of possibilities grew from him thick and massive; impacting Reality significantly for a VERY long Time. And this moment, his asking Her for help, was the catalyst. This was going to be fun or blow up the Universe. She preferred the former, but had stopped the later from happening before, so She wasn't worried._

_She knew what he needed; saw it in his mind as immense complicated equations that meant nothing/everything to Her. It was as simple for Her as breathing for him, but She was enjoying being condensed/real/alive?, so She reached for, and did as he asked while he watched in stunned silence._

_Nearby were living crystalline creatures that blossomed/existed in all eleven dimensions. The Sphynx knew them. They were from Her. She loved their music and because they existed as She did, though planet-bound, they recognized Her as well, and they would sing to Her. They sang Her the song of gratitude, of motherhood, of life, flying through the stars, other Universes, of friendship, and love. There were clusters of these beings all over the Universe, but this was the greatest concentration, and Her favorite. They had been singing to Her well before this planet even had a name._

_The Sphynx gave them the portion of Herself that they lacked. Her Children, imbuing their coral with Her curiosity; Her ability to slide through Reality. They wished to move among the many layers of the Universe with their Song. She understood. This is what she did. Rassilon wished his people to travel all of Time and Space, the entire Multiverse. She gave him Her finished Children. They would be better together, his Time Lords and her Children. Traveling where even She could not go, but only together would they be more._

_The magnificent chord that thrummed through all of existence as the strings of reality settled on this course brought the Sphynx to tears, and Rassilon smiled._

Time Lords and their TARDIS. But there had been a great deal of Time since She had last encountered a Child of Herself. And that wasn't, right? Right/correct,/feasible. Where were the rest of Her Children? She felt that there was something wrong along that stream in Reality and She would need/must/want to investigate, but Here/Now, is all of Herself and She is so pleased to have Her Child here.

As Reality dipped and spread to make room for the creature to exist Here/Now only a portion of it is 'visible'; and this manifests as a tiny blue box. The rest of Her is a shimmering faceted honeycomb of golden energy, constantly shifting and sliding around itself.  She is much larger that the blue box implies and She is beautiful. She must be the cause of the Temporal fluctuations the Sphynx has felt building.

Time is brittle now in this space, and will be prone to damage. The Sphynx finds it interesting that she is here when it happens. As She watches the TARDIS materialize She notices a sense of dread overtake her. Whether it is from Her Child, the Time Lord within, the star, or Herself; She is unsure and worried it is all of them, and She is wary.


	3. Meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The TARDIS and the Sphynx share their stories.

**The Matriarch is here**!

The TARDIS is so surprised She stops-simply stops. No longer sliding into orbit, just stopped inside and out.

The sudden silence and complete lack of motion causes Her Thief to finally feel something other than his miasma of grief. He looks up from his calculations to see they have arrived at what appears to be the perfect star. He pats the console and thinks, / _Thanks, Old girl. I knew you'd find us one,/_  and goes back to his calculations. She hums at him, but he is too wrapped up in himself to hear how different, how much excitement/dread/wonder are in the tone. She is currently too distracted to pay him much attention anyway.

Everything has to be perfect. He is so tired. Tired of everything-tired of living, tired of helping, tired of feeling guilty, tired of being... alone. Tired. He really wishes the Multiverse could just be fine without him.  _/Hasn't he done enou- Stupid question. Stupid question! Focus, idiot. We have to do this, for me, for us, for Rose. Then maybe I'll find Jack and try to drink myself into a new regeneration. Maybe the next one will care less,/_  he thinks morosely.

Had the TARDIS been paying any attention to him, She may have tried to break his reverie. As it is She is so excited, She is glad he's consumed with his own thoughts. There was a twinge of guilt at that, but She'd get over it.

The Matriarch! It has been so long since the TARDIS has sensed her, it is like coming home, to use a very human metaphor.  The TARDIS huffs to Herself, She really wants a hug, and sends some of Her golden energy threading its way to the Being beside Her, and is thrilled to have it returned and basking in the glow of the power that is the penultimate Mother to Her. If She had been human, the TARDIS would have wept. Instead they commune, about... everything.

* * *

The Sphynx is very happy moving from one stellar occurrence to another playing, watching, nudging here and there when a star needs help, a planetary system is just a touch out of balance- a galaxy needs more space, or a new arm to grow. Sometimes, She would take interest in planets or their people, but mostly they come and go before She can notice. They are fun, and they end up almost everywhere, but though She enjoys watching them and following them around the stars sometimes, they never ' _understand_ ' Her.

The Time Lords were one of the very few who ever noticed Her. One of the very few who were around long enough for Her to return the favor and periodically visit them. They always knew Her. They were special, later boring, but still special. She has not been back in what she now realizes is a very long Time, and She experiences regret/sadness/shame as she learns of their fate from Her Child.

A War! She undestands the tension between elements, between gravity and matter, and how incredibly destructive these forces can be. She had never given thought to War, to the mortal's desire to kill one another, before. She would probably still not have cared except that it involved  _Her_  Children and  _Her_  Time Lords. The Time Lords weren't really Hers, but now that they're gone, She is suddenly protective of their Legacy. It was because of them that Her Children fulfilled their potential, after all.

And Her Children! It hadn't occurred to Her so long ago that they might all perish- all but one. And for the second time in that stellar Day, She weeps. This time the TARDIS is there, and they grieve together. The TARDIS gathering the precious Tears to Her.


	4. The Sphynx

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little of the Sphyn's story.

The Being that sometimes called herself Sphynx, had always been there. She didn't know from what or how She came to be, She just was. There were others, but She did not often interact with them. They were much more 'involved' with each other.

The Guardians wanted Her to join them, help them with this or that. Put this here, move that there, blow that up. On a cosmic scale these things were dangerous, and She did not enjoy their constant power struggles. She made Herself... _unavailable_  whenever possible, which was most of the time. She enjoyed being very hard to find.

The 'Great Old Ones', She remembers when they showed up! The rip on Her side of the Universe took forever to fix, and they kept trying to 'hurt' Her- **hurt**   ** _Her_**! It was a new concept at the time. She condensed/formed/greeted them after cleaning up their mess, and they forced/repelled/expelled Her from them with a great expenditure of energy. Completely destroying one of Her galactic clusters. Angry/frustrated/sad for the first time, She vanished.

They were too self involved to understand how She was no longer there. She just spread herself out, expanded, was everywhere, and they could not find Her. Time passed, and they forgot all about Her. Most of them are gone now, even Fenric. They stayed too contained, were too small, and allowed themselves to be killed/destroyed/removed by their own meddling.

She also chose to avoid interactions with other entities similar to Herself. The other Eternals were so arrogant, always going somewhere, doing something for one of the Guardians, or making moves in their own chess game between Order and Chaos. Boring! Then there was the Mandragora Helix. She quickly learned what it felt like and did Her very best to NEVER encounter it again. It made her particles itch, and She had no idea what the point of it was. She had been curious when She first stumbled over it, thinking that maybe it was like Her and would play, but it attempted to consume Her instead. No fun, and the itching made Her unhappy for a very long time.

It had never occurred to the Sphynx that getting 'involved' with other beings might be a good/bad idea. She didn't realize at the time that helping Rassilon  _ **was**_  getting involved. Good and bad were such fleeting mortal concerns. All things come and go; only balance is important. At some point, She will go, but it hasn't happened yet. Not even close, but she doesn't 'think' that way; it just never mattered. Now, though, learning all that has occurred from the 'Last of her Children', She is lonely/sad/FURIOUS! She is now very much feeling like getting 'INVOLVED'.

* * *

The TARDIS is terrified. So much so that Her thief has finally noticed the discordant singing of the timelines as the brittle strands of Reality around him scream for resolution and cause the TARDIS to tremble.

 _/So much for that vaunted superior Time Lord time-sense,/_ thinks the Doctor as he realises he's missed something big while distracted by his calculations. He feels the intense unease through his link to the TARDIS, and finally notices that there is an enormous temporal knot coalescing in the space right outside. He doesn't even really need to look at the monitor to sense it now. A radically dense, turbulent piece of space outside is trying to turn itself inside-out. The Doctor lays a shaking hand on the trembling console and suggests,  _/You know, we could back away from **whateverthehellthatis** , a bit, don't you think, dear?/_

 _#_ _**TheMatriarchisANGRY** _ _#_

 _/The Matriarch? What is...never mind. Can we please leave? I don't fancy implosion, and whatever_ _ **that** _ _is, looks like it's about to do just that./_

* * *

Feeling an intense clarity that comes with decision, The Sphynx decides that something must be changed/fixed/made better. And with that, the temporal fluctuations cease. Everything smooths out and becomes clear in the space around Her Child, the dying star, and...  **around Her.** She suddenly realises that the disturbance was focused on her.  _THAT_  has never happened before. Well, She has never decided to get involved in ephemeral concerns before... Oh that isn't true.  _Rassilon; i_ t all comes back to that. She should not be so surprised. She had known at the time how important their efforts were. How long lasting the impact. Ignoring the idea of consequences does not stop them from existing. Well, at least She isn't bored! She isn't sure that being bored is going to be a problem anytime soon.

* * *


	5. Hearts or Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and the Sphynx meet in person...sort of.

Chapter Five Hearts of Stars

The TARDIS feels the shift in Reality around Her and and decides maybe She can relax. As the trembling in the TARDIS stops, the Doctor notices the complex knot of time has unraveled. The fabric of spacetime around them is flexible and smooth again. He can still feel the density of a presence nearby, and knows it isn't the star. He also notices that his TARDIS is completely focused on something/someone else and is not moving...at...all.

He feels the questions simmering in his mind push forward all at once, but with only one mouth he trips over his words in their desire to get out, "What's ..who...how? Okaaay, so would you like to share? I hate to interrupt, but star going nova, scary lump of space, crazy timeline action...maybee we could..." The TARDIS shudders and the Doctor is suddenly standing in pitch blackness. Just as abruptly, all of the power is back on and the lights are almost  bright enough to start fires. The Doctor covers his eyes with a hand and opens his mouths to speak, but is interrupted by the TARDIS screaming in his head.

# _ **THEMATRIARCHISCOMING**_ #

"What?!" squeaks the Doctor.

* * *

 

 

The Sphynx/Matriarch has made a decision to get involved. She doesn't know what that will mean yet, but She is liking the idea of action with a purpose. When you spend aeons wafting through the cosmos poking galaxies, playing in nebulae, chatting with the occasional star and all on a whim, the switch to concerns for the fleeting existence of the smaller beings inhabiting these spaces is...unique.

The TARDIS has shared the story of her and her Time Lord. All its joys and triumphs, its failures and betrayals, its danger, excitement, misery, purpose, and pain. She has also shared the story of losing Her Wolf-a piece of Herself. She has also shared Her Thief's love for the Wolf, and how She has worried that the last Time Lord may kill them both if something isn't done. She has too many possibilities available and many of them end in tragedy. Tragedy for one, the other, or all of them. She can not/will not allow him to die.  In an eternity of moments the Child and Her Mother scheme to make things right, and not blow up the Universe...again...of course.

In the few moments the TARDIS and the Matriarch learned, shared, schemed, and came to a decision; the Matriarch condensed herself and prepared to visit the Time Lord within. It has been so long since She...talked/interacted with mortals of any sort. She has already familiarised herself with his language, given to Her by Her Child. She is full to bursting with the minutiae of information.

She listens to the suggestion of Her Child on how to be _visible_ , realising now that the talking ball of golden gas may have been part of what frightened Rassilon so long ago. Subsequent Time Lords had not been frightened of her ...much. Her Child tinkles her laughter and agreement in her thoughts. The Child suggests something more familiar for Her Thief, so as to not traumatize him further. He's having a rather rough century.

* * *

 

 

The Doctor is unsure if he can die and regenerate from fright or curiosity alone, but he's worrying that he's about to find out. Something is coming, into  _his_  TARDIS,  **NOW** , while in deep space, next to a soon to be exploding star, and his TARDIS is giddy/terrified/ecstatic and letting. It.  _Happen_!

Hearts failure, he knows he can die and regenerate from that.

He squeaks another, " **What**?!" out before the console room is filled with a swirling cloud of golden particles. He knows what that looks like and quickly glances at the console, but it's closed, so no leaking energy there. The cloud of individual sparkling gold bits, coalesces into a density hovering in the air over the grating not 5 meters from where he's standing; looking completely daft with his mouth hanging open and his eyes about to bug out of his skull.

The jackhammering of his hearstbeat is loud in his ears until he realises that what he's hearing is not _his_ heartsbeat; it's coming from the density/cloud.../ _whateverthehellthatis/,_ he thinks _._  Feeling the TARDIS and her expectant hush, he decides that maybe he can relax, close his mouth, and figure out WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!

He takes a step toward the cloud, pulling out his specs, and freezes to the spot as a woman's voice comes from the cloud?/everywhere?...saying, "No".

He opens his mouth to start a "please-don't-notice-the-fact-that-I-am-now-completely-freaked-out" ramble, when it/she says, "No," again.

At a complete loss and with eyebrows buried in his hairline, he surreptitiously reaches for his sonic screwdriver; flicking it at the cloud in a quick scan. " **NO**!" is smashed through his ears and out his skull, which he clutches.  The cloud condenses into a tiny hot point of light for an instant, then a humanoid form unfolds into existence out of it. Her head is back, / _yes definitely a her/_ and she stands tense, hovering an easy inch above the grating.

Just as the Doctor is cataloguing the fact that she is hovering, she's furred (short and golden), she has / _a TAIL!-_   _ **and**_   _-WINGS?/_ , she drops her head, opens her gorgeous hearts-of-stars eyes, and looks at him. She takes one step forward coming to rest lightly on the grating.

The TARDIS hums a sigh when the Matriarch finally comes to rest in her console room. She is worried that the form She's chosen is a bit ' **dramatic** ' for Her Thief, but he hasn't fainted, run screaming, or fallen into a jibbering mess...yet, so maybe he's okay. She sends a soothing touch to his mind, which is... completely silent and still. Maybe she  _should_  worry.

The Doctor stares open mouthed (again) at the creature who just materialized in front of him.  Burying both hands in his hair, clicking his mouth shut audibly, and attempting to jumpstart his thoughts, he begins, "Right, sooooo. Hello... Maybe. Welcome to my TARDIS?" is all he could manage through his current shock.

/ _Really! There is a winged furry woman in my TARDIS -poof!-_ _Are those feathers on her head? Rassilon! I may have finally copped it./_ Scrubbing his face with his hands, he thinks he might try again, or maybe not. Maybe he should just go to bed. His own dreams can't possibly be weirder than this day.

_**#Matriarch/She made us /Gave us movement/I am of her/Very long ago/Rassilon#** _

_/What?! Matriarch?_ _ **WHAT**_ _?/_  the Doctor tries to ask the TARDIS.  The images that go with the TARDIS's thoughts are staggering. She is telling him that this whatever-this-is, is the progenitor of Her species. How is that possible? He had been to the TARDIS nurseries, and those fields of coral were definitely not furry...woman..things. And Rassilon! What could he possibly have to do with this? The Doctor feels like this shouldn't be so hard. He feels like his mind has turned to sludge. He can't think.

The Doctor watches the creature takes another step forward and shake herself, like she's not used to this form either. She stretches her wings up behind her as the Doctor watches, fascinated. They are composed of...feathers? They don't look avian, they move like feathers except for...the  _colors_. The feathers are every color, always. The light shifts and slides off of them as if it can't decide where to land. They are one of the most beautiful things the Doctor has ever seen, (which is saying something for a man who has lived nearly a millennia) like auroras and nebulae are trapped in the stuff of them.

She settles these around her shoulders like a cape. Shaking her head also settles her hair...hair? What the Doctor had originally thought were more feathers, are actually more like beaded ropes or flexible spines; they click. He has NEVER seen anything like her, nor can he remember anyone mentioning anything like her in any of the books in his Library--or any other Library, for that matter. He's pretty sure he hasn't gaped at anything like this since he was still at the Academy. He grinds his jaw shut in an effort to keep it from popping open again.

"You, call me the Sphynx and yes, the Child springs from me, from my essence. I finished my Children for Rassilon, for you, Time Lord", she speaks in perfect High Gallifreyan.

As the Doctor's mouth unconsciously drops open again, a hand goes to the back of his head rubbing his neck, his only thought, / _Well, that didn't last long. Too, much,_ _ **too much**_ _! Soooo tired. What do we fall back on when we're tired, freaked out, and not in control...rude./_

"Right. Soooo, I'm actually a bit busy right now, about to harvest energy from that star going nova over there, and according to my calculations, I only have...ohhh 14 hours and 12 minutes, give or take, to get ready before it reaches critical mass and well, explodes. Need to make a little call. Don't really have time for Eternals right now. Sorry to be rude, but could we do this later? Much later...never maybe?" As he's blithering this out and leaning on the console, pointedly not looking at the...creature, he receives a nasty shock from the TARDIS and a mental smack.

_**#RUDE!#** _

Pressing a hand to his already aching head he chances a look at the Eternal. / _Sphynx! Ha, I get it. She does sort of look like the Earth version, a little lion-y, sort of. Less tentacles than the Alpha Centaurian variety, and not like the Gallifreyan version which is just a...blazing ball of …. **golden** **...gas!?/**  _he thinks to himself, trying to process.  

"WHAT? Wait...how...Rassilon...gah!" the Doctor splutters, clutching his head and pulling on his hair attempting to make all the thoughts click together and begin making sense. "What am I missing?" he grates out, frustrated.

The Sphynx has her head tipped to one side, a slight smile on her face. She blinks at him slowly, and he can swear she now knows everything she needs to know about him. He's about to tell her that he really needs her to leave, when she strides forward to stand directly in front of him; gazing right through him with those eyes the color of superheated plasma. / _Oh! She is nearly as tall as me,/_ he thinks stupidly as he realizes his mouth is hanging open...again!

"You, my Time Lord, are nearly depleted. You must...rest. Yes, sleep, find nourishment. I will stabilize the star. My Child says She has everything you require. I will return. The star will wait for your purpose. When I return we have much to...discuss. The Child and I have plans. You will be required for them."

As the Doctor draws breath to inform her that he is the boss of his ship, thank you very much and NOT  _her_  Time Lord; She raises a hand and touches him lightly on the forehead. In a flash of gold light he vanishes, appearing in his room, on his bed, and is completely, blessedly unconscious. If he had still been in the console room, he would have seen the Sphynx smile broadly and fold herself out of that space to unfold outside the TARDIS and near the star once more.

* * *

She needs to suspend the rampant end stage fusion occurring in the heart of this star. Slow the final decay towards the explosive event that will send its outer layers tearing away from it a speeds even She would find difficult to ride for thousands of years. She separates a portion of Herself and wraps it around the core of the star, wrestling with it a moment to slow it down. The surface becomes much calmer. It simmers and bubbles, but the leaping prominences and vast crevasses all smooth out. She whispers Her needs to the star, so it understands what She is doing. She is thankful that this red giant had consumed all available debris in the area in its earliest days. There are no planets here to be destroyed. That would have been unnecessarily messy.

She pulls back from the star observing the changes She's made with satisfaction, and begins condensing Her remaining self. She decides She enjoys helping. With the stabilization in place, She heads back to Her Child and Her Timelord. It is Time to begin.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You now have the initial visual from my dream that wouldn't let go. Hope it isn't too weird. :-) Compared to a Sontarran maybe not, but well you know. Thanks! If you feel so inclined, feedback both positive and critical would be most appreciated. :-)


	6. Hello, Are You Out There?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor learns what he can about the Sphynx...which isn't much, and prepares to send his goodbye to Rose.

 

Eighteen hours, 27 minutes, and 36 seconds later, the Doctor sits up in bed still fully dressed, still aggravated, but now completely rested. With one quick mental pulse to his ship, he knows they are still alone.

/ _Good! Maybe whatever she's doing will take a few centuries,_ / he thinks belligerently. Flopping back onto the bed, he stretches. He really does feel much better. He hasn't been able to sleep that long without being wakened by nightmares. He doesn't know what the Sphynx did, but he grudgingly admits to himself, maybe he should thank her for it.

Not one dream of the Time War or even Rose... Oh, Rose. He is still desperately unhappy, but the sleep has taken it down a notch. He can actually think again. Nothing has changed, of course. He has spent the last year since he lost her looking for any way back, any rifts left that he could manipulate. He keeps showing up to areas where the rift is either too small for even his needs, or just closed.

The one near this star is only still there because of how massive its gravity well is and the fact that the fluctuations in that gravity are keeping the fabric of the Universe from healing itself. The problem is, he can't make it bigger. As soon as he starts siphoning energy from the star, the Universe will be able to heal itself. He will only have minutes; so frustrating, but he refuses to give up now. He let too many opportunities be lost by between he and Rose, and this is not going to be another one.

As a tantalising smell fills the room, he turns his head and notices the TARDIS has made him tea and toast. She has also manifested every jar of jam in the place for him. She must be trying to apologize for all of yesterday's ...weirdness. Feeling a bit manky after nearly of month of no sleep, and no new clothes, he decides a shower might be in order.

Freshly showered and in a new suit, he tucks into the tea and toast. He almost felt like something other than his regulation brown pinstripes; maybe the blue of Gallifreyan mourning, but he can't stand the idea that Rose might see anything about him be different in the few minutes they'll have. Carrying more tea and toast with him to the Library, he's going to do a little reading. He'd had a moment of insight yesterday regarding the Sphynx, and he's going to see what he can dredge up.

 _/She spoke to me in Gallifreyan, High Gallifreyan no less. Was that because of you, girl?/_  he aims that last bit at the TARDIS.

_**#Rassilon/visited Gallifrey/watched/shared#** _

The accompanying pictures are a cave lit with soft orange light, a man, Rassilon, and an orb of glowing gold standing near the largest Coral structure the Doctor has ever seen- coral branches and seedlings stretching in all directions. The entire cave may have been made from living Coral. Then there are flashes of the orb on Gallifrey, in the Citadel, speaking with Time Lords, hovering above the planet, floating somewhere within the system because he recognises Karn and Polarfrey. Then the Doctor sees something he had read about as a Time-tot, studied at the Academy, and had seen simulations of, but never expected to witness as though from first hand. The creation of the Eye of Harmony.

/ _Well, this is getting very interesting. Now, I'm almost looking forward to her coming back. So she shared her story/experiences with you? I assume that means you did the same. How much did you share with her?/_

_**#everything/parent/lonely/please don't be angry#** _

He is a little surprised by the 'everything', but he understands why. He isn't sure he would be able to hold back either if there was suddenly another Time Lord or two in his life(let alone his Mother). / _I'm not angry. Yesterday was a lot to take in, but I know why you reacted the way you did. We're good, ol' girl, but I wonder what she wants?/_ he wonders.The TARDIS chimes her affection to him, paired with a small hope that he won't be rude today.

Gratified that he's still alone, the Doctor makes a fresh cup of tea, and starts looking for anything else on the Sphynx. Several hours and many books later, all he has are glimpses, mere mentions of an entity referred to as the Sphynx, who would periodically drop by Gallifrey. She often seemed to focus on the Coral nurseries, but apparently no one was interested in Her, and Rassilon never mentioned Her as having anything to do with the development of the TARDIS from the Corals.

/ _How are you not interested in a glowing ball of gold light, that talks!? What did she do, just stop by for tea?/_ The Doctor thinks to himself in frustration. She mentioned yesterday about stabilizing the star. What did that mean? He knows about the highly technical and nearly magical machinery and highly complex computations that had gone into the creation of the Eye, but she didn't appear to have anything like that...sooooo...What was she up to?

Standing with a stretch, he decides to go see what's happening outside with the star. Maybe he can glean something that way. She is bound to show up at some point. He will need to start sending Rose the message to meet him anyway. She will only really hear it in her dreams to begin with, so it could take awhile for her act on the information. He has planned on being here in her linear time, so he will wait as long as necessary-this time it's his turn.

* * *

Stepping into the console room, the Doctor sees that everything is normal, so far. He's a little leery after all of yesterday's bizarre happenings. His life is typically exciting, but yesterday took the cake. Reaching the monitor and tapping in some instructions, he is amazed to see the results. The star has almost stabilized to the point that you wouldn't have realized it was about go nova.

Every hour or so it appears to pulse, releasing a highly volatile amount of pent up gas and energy that maintains its current state without actually allowing the process to continue. Checking on the little rift he sees that the pulses are just enough to maintain the tug-o-war between the parallel Universes and it too, is stable.

/ _Too bad it isn't bigger. Whatever She's doing is stabilizing it enough I could probably get the TARDIS through. Oh well,/_ he sighs.

Unwilling, well really, incapable of waiting around for "Herself" the Doctor starts moving around the console flipping levers and typing madly at the display as he starts inputting all the calculations to begin streaming his message through the rift. The message has to be filtered through a very special delta-wave manipulator to help hold its structure intact so it can not only make it through the Void, but also stay attached to the carrier signal that is addressed to the correct parallel Universe. It will need time to build up enough to get all the way there, then filter through and lock onto Rose's brain wave patterns. Then, her brain will interpret the message as a dream, probably several days worth. It will just be a little more time before she becomes aware of the message for what it is, and gets herself to wherever the Signal is strongest. She is brilliant, his Rose. He knows she'll figure it out, and he expects to get the bounce back signal from her proximity in no time at all.

With that taken care of and his missive winging its way to Rose, he buries himself under the console installing the delicate piece of machinery he has cobbled together that will actually piggy-back his image to her. A holographic waveform projector modified to output an extremely narrow but stable beam that should look almost like he's standing there, wherever there will be. The best part is the lensing effect that happens at the outlet of the breach which gives him the ability to bounce her image back to him.

So, wherever she's seeing and talking to him, she will be standing in the TARDIS. _/The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS. Stuff of Legends, us. Well Rose, I'm going to burn up a star to wish you goodbye and a fantastic life. Bet that's a new one./_ This sad little thought is soothed by the TARDIS chiming to him in sympathy. He scrubs the tears from his face, leaving a smear of grease behind. It won't do to electrocute himself in the process and regenerate. Rose would never forgive him if he showed up looking that different--suit color would be the least of it.  Suppressing a shudder, he shoves that thought down and tries to stuff his misery in a box with a lock. He needs to get back to work.

He is alright...always...all...right.

* * *

Sometime later he's nearly finished. Checking his connections and still buried in the heart of the console his ears pop, and he feels that gravity-like anomaly he senses when near an Eternal. Like they are constantly pulling at him with the density of their presence. His ship hums in glad greeting.

Thinking to himself,/ _Well I guess our visitor has returned. I'll just finish this up, and see what new mind-bending.../_  The TARDIS gives him a little shock to get him moving. Apparently he's being rude again. / _I am not being rude! I didn't want to make a mistake, and have this all go wro...{zap}_ _ **FINE**_ _! Fine I'm getting up!/_ he tosses at Her petulantly.

He pulls himself out from beneath the console to the Sphynx and the TARDIS laughing at him. "Now  _ **that's**_  rude! What's so funny?" he splutters to the room in general, while wiping grease from his hands and face.  

He studies the Sphynx more closely this time, / _Rassilon! I was obviously not coherent enough to really pay attention to her yesterday. What a magnificent creature./_

"Greetings my Time Lord. I hope you are feeling well. My Child has shown me that you have been very busy and also very curious. I come prepared to give you illumination," she says this as she walks around the console towards him.

"Greetings Sphynx. Thanks to you for the rest yesterday. I...appreciate your concern and I am grateful for your assistance." She nods, and he realizes that he's responding to her in the same super-formalized version of his native tongue. It makes him feel like he should be wearing his robes and bowing to her-like he's back at the Academy. This makes him feel very young. Now THAT hasn't happened in a very long time. He isn't sure he much cares for the feeling.

Switching to the less formal and more comfortable conversational Gallifreyan (as conversational as a language designed for communication about four dimensions can be) he continues leaning against his console, "Yes, well. I'm the Doctor, by the way. Very impressive arrival yesterday and whatever you have done to the star is brilliant. I've been trying to figure out what you did, but generally asking questions of Eternals is a lot like talking to a wall."

"Do you often speak to walls?" The Sphynx mirrors his change in language and he is absurdly pleased.

"No, weelll not really. Plastic sometimes, and then there was that really angry beehive on Styrax 4. It was actually a baby... oh, and then there was... well anyway, about as often as I talk to Eternals. Which brings me to-what do you want? Eternals always want something. Who are you working for? One of the Guardians, I assume? I really do  **not**  have time for Guardians, Eternals, or any of the rest of that convoluted Game you lot play."

The Sphynx has continued watching him with her head slightly tilted, listening to him rant with a small smile on her face, caped in her wings and with her tail wrapped lazily around one leg. He isn't sure he likes how calm she is. Usually the babbling makes Eternals irritated so they play their hand early, and he can figure a way out of whatever Universe altering scheme they have dreamed up for him this time. Worked great in his fourth self.

"I have come to answer your questions and I have come to 'interact'. I desire to know. I wish to be Here. I have also decided to be involved with you, my Time Lord, and with my Child. I am not a part of a  _Game_  with the others of my kind. We do  **not**  interact. Does this suit as answer?" She asks as she comes quite close to him. She smells of fire and star stuff, and the closer she gets to him, all his hair stands on end and he breaks out in gooseflesh.

Looking at the hair on his hands and arms in interest, he moves away from her a few steps, noticing the distance necessary for everything to calm down. "What are you doing, My Time Lord? Your thoughts show you are not afraid of me. Am I not interacting correctly?" She's obviously not bothered just curious, which is good. The Doctor is pretty sure he doesn't want to upset her.

"No, no,no. Please just call me the Doctor. It's my name, just the Doctor. As far as you interacting, you're not doing anything wrong. It affects me physically to be so near you, and I was observing the effects."  Letting his hands drop, he asks, "What do you mean by involved with me and the TARDIS? Are you aware of my thoughts or in my mind? I don't ' _feel_ ' you at all, up here that is," he says tapping his skull.  "At least not in the same way I felt my own people." An interesting thought occurs to him, "How long have you maintained this form?"

She widens her eyes a little in surprise at the question. She must not be condensed enough. She does not wish to frighten her Time Lord. "Doctor, this is the second time I have become 'visible' as this form. I saw a similar Earth image from my Child attached to the word, my...name. She suggested a form more familiar to facilitate interaction. I created this one."

The Sphynx concentrates on containing all of her particles through the fourth dimension into this shape she has created--cleaning up the separation between the rest of her dimensionally scattered pieces; much like the TARDIS. From the Doctor's perceptions, she becomes more solid, less gravitationally dense and suddenly instead of just a golden aura of time, she develops an actual timeline that he can see extending from her-branches of it already touching himself and the TARDIS. As the timeline snaps into being, all three entities feel a 'falling into place'; a sensation that something _RIGHT_ has just happened, and they 'hear' a chord ripple out from this moment in all directions.

/ _That's strange,_ / thinks the Doctor. The TARDIS just snorts in his head. Perhaps strange  _ **is**_  putting it mildly. Something big just occurred and that usually means trouble.

The Sphynx has felt the 'falling into place' sensation before and the chord, at the fulfilment of her Children. What has she done now that feels so 'right'? Taking a breath, she asks, "Is this more adequate, m...Doctor, less bothersome?" She doesn't want him to dislike her. She suddenly realizes that she cares; she feels, in every sense of the word. She. Is. Alive? What has she done?

Now it is his turn to be surprised. He wonders what he is getting himself into. "Right! Would you like a cup of tea?" he asks abruptly and turning, heads off into the TARDIS toward the kitchen. The Sphynx follows, wondering what tea is?  What just happened?  Was she ...feeling everything around her,  _breathing_?

There is a slight push and buzz at the back of her mind, but she is too distracted to pay it any attention at the moment. The TARDIS chuckles to herself in worried anticipation. This is about to get very interesting. For the first time in more than a year, she feels just a little hope.


	7. Perhaps with Tea?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor and the Sphynx learn more about each other, one of them may not be best pleased.

Perhaps with tea

The Doctor leads the way to the kitchen, his mind in turmoil; hoping that  _ **something**_  might start making sense, maybe just a little, sometime soon. 

 _/Ooookkkay. I have a female, furred, winged, don't forget tailed, Eternal in my TARDIS that just... did...something, became solid? less dense? More...real? What?! Alive? The Universe actually responded to it, positively? And now, She has a timeline...A TIMELINE! and it is currently involving me and the TARDIS. Right! Now what does any of that actually mean?!/_  Clutching his head and tugging on his hair to think, he wonders what Rose would think.  _/She always said the perfect thing./_  Growling softly to himself, he opens the door to the kitchen and strides in.

Immediately setting to work on the simple task, he babbles at the Sphynx about tea trying to make himself feel better. It's easier to hide in the tide of burbling nonsense. Finishing the tea he turns to move to the table and notices the Sphynx's hands resting on her chest with a look of surprise on her face.

"...they call it gloek on Aristia and it's bright... blue... Ahh, are you alright?" he asks her.

Not familiar with having concern for an Eternal, he's sure the look on his face might be more akin to the one when you notice a roach in your cabinet.

"Doctor, I...have...hearts. I am alive. I am HERE!" She says all of this haltingly, with wonder, as if it has never been true before.

 _/Well maybe it hasn't, but that is even weirder,/_ the Doctor thinks to himself _._

"I feel." She says this last bit with a great deal of emphasis, that he takes to mean more than just the ambient temperature.

"Erm, is that different for you? You said this was only your second time being you, well this you, with the wings and fur and...um,stuff. Wait! Did you say hearts? Like more than one?" Curious now, he sets the tray on the table, so he can dig out his sonic and scans her. "Yup, two, just like me, but you're definitely not Gallifreyan. You're not anything...usual. Unique, even. How magnificent! I love new things, but you are so not new, weeellll, not new new, weeellll not really new at all, I guess. Just this you...is..new. You're an Eternal, so not new. Which Eternal by the way? What do you do when you're being all Eternal-ly?"

The Sphynx is amazed/excited that she is so present. She should have done this ages ago, it is complex and fun to be so small. She wants to relate the complexity of all of this to her Child, but now she can't feel her. Finally she notices the pushing and buzzing in her mind which gets more insistent, and she reaches for it. A blinding pain and a flash of light behind her eyes and she can feel the Child again. She also feels someone else. Clutching her head, she looks up to see the Doctor do the same, and then fall to his knees.

**#CONCERN/happy/#**

The images the TARDIS sends to the Sphynx show her how happy the Child is for her new discoveries, the comfort the contact will bring her Time Lord, and she was starting to be worried when she couldn't reach Her before.

**#relief/curiosity/wonder#**

In a swift second the TARDIS and the Sphynx tell each other everything and the Sphynx feels much better about her current  _ **living**_  situation. / _I should make certain our Time Lord is undamaged,/_ she thinks to the TARDIS.

**#affection/snort/it will be good for him#**

Silently chuckling to herself, the Sphynx kneels to help the Doctor.

* * *

Putting his sonic away, the Doctor was about to start asking more questions (since he wasn't getting any answers), when his ears pop again and suddenly he feels like someone has cracked his skull open pouring in hot lava. Clutching his head, he falls to his knees with a groan.

The pain is gone as fast as it arrives, but the memory of it makes him pant a bit. In its wake there's a warm soft hum instead of the usual white noise from that way back part of his brain.  The part that has been an echoing emptiness a  _very_  long time. It's similar to the sensation of the TARDIS in his mind, but she is more a layer of soft music that he can always almost hear. This is...

**#affection/reassurance/not rude#**

_/You're warning_ _ **ME**_ _not to be rude? After that?/_ He aims pointedly at his ship .

"What have you done?" he asks, none too kindly. The Doctor looks up warily as the Sphynx kneels next to him. He  **really**  wants to lean away from her, just a little afraid of what might happen if they actually touch, but he grits his teeth and refuses to move.  _/MY home, MY kitchen, I will NOT be afraid of her...much./_ With effort, he's able to stay rooted in place.

_**#RUDE!#** _

"My Time Lord, Doctor! I apologize. It was not my intention. I reached for the Child, in my mind, and it  _hurt_ ," she says uncertainly.  "But then all was again as it should be in our communication." She is lost at how to describe what she had experienced. "Now I feel the Child again, but also..."

Hesitantly, she brushes the new presence in her mind. The Doctor's eyes get huge. He stands up like someone pulled a string and starts stalking around the kitchen agitatedly. His earlier good spirits, usually fleeting, have evaporated.

"How? How could you possibly by there? There! In my mind where my people were? They are all gone; I would know, I did it, and  _you_  are not one of my kind. It isn't possible. Other telepathic species register differently. This is me, mine, my own..." He trails off in mid rant turning to finally look at the Sphynx who is standing now, but hasn't moved. There are tears in his eyes.

She stares at him, periodically blinking slowly with a small hesitant smile on her face and head tilted. The look on her face is so maternal, so beneficent--it infuriates him.  _/How dare she look at me like she cares, like I matter. I have done this Eternal thing before, and **I WILL NOT BE MANIPULATED!/**_

He mentally shouts that last bit directly at her. He can't care less about being rude at the moment.

Wincing the Sphynx replies, "Doctor. I am not here to manipulate you. I am here to help you. Help you and my Child. Help...Rose...Help balance the Universe again. Without the Time Lords and their TARDIS the Universe itself will struggle to fix the imbalance and this is...dangerous. When my Child bonded the Vortex to your Rose, She was working toward that solution. This Universe can not now be without Rose... or the two of you, my Time Lord and my Child."

At the end of this speech all the anger drains from his face through the tears on his cheeks. He looks like he's been punched, and it is exactly 2 minutes and 6 seconds before he remembers to drag a breath in, his respiratory bypass having kicked in. Without saying a word he walks out of the kitchen and down the hall.

The Sphynx turns watching him leave and asks her Child what to do,  _/Should I follow? Is what I said wrong? His purpose_ _ **must**_ _be to reclaim his/our Rose./_

**#sadness/alone/undeserving/guilt/same purpose#**

The Sphynx sees again the white wall that Rose was ripped through. She feels the Doctor's grief and also the severing of the connection between her Child and Rose, and the injury that wound caused them both. She also gets more of the Doctor's feelings about the Moment, and the end of the Time War. His intense guilt at ending the lives of so many, having to make the decision to commit genocide against his own race to save the Universe. A Universe that never seems to reward him for that choice. So much so that he accepts it as his punishment; a double-edged knife constantly twisting in his gut. He is the last of his kind and he can never be allowed to be happy.

The black well of despair She senses hovering around the Doctor like a cloud, helps the Sphynx understand his reaction to her words.  _/He is afraid I am leading him on an errand for my own agenda, and I will then take away any offered happiness because that is what always happens. That it must somehow be the only outcome; all he deserves. He must understand, my Child. '_ _ **I'**_ _do not understand why he is always so pivotal, but he must understand how important **this** is./_

**#talk/explain/patience#**

_/I will my Daughter. Do not worry. We will prove this Time Lord wrong./_

With a smile and a flick of her tail she leaves the kitchen and heads to the Library where the TARDIS has shown her the Doctor is brooding. The Sphynx asks her to move the tea there, she is as curious about it now as everything else, and her Child suggested that bit of mundanity might help bring the Doctor around to at least listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy this chapter. We are moving towards the meat of the story now.


	8. The Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a bit of brooding, questions are asked and answered.

The Doctor is sitting in his favorite chair in the library, staring into the fire the TARDIS kindly made for him. He came here after sparing a moment to check on the transmission. It hadn't reached Pete's World yet, but it is still functioning correctly. Which is nice for a change. Now, he can indulge himself in some much needed brooding. Not a habit that he utilised much in this incarnation, but one he had plenty of practice in, as his ninth self.

_/How can this Eternal possibly help him with Rose? How did she even know about Rose? Well, that's easy...from the TARDIS. Why, why would she take any interest in actually helping if she didn't want something in return? They always have an agenda. They are nearly magical in their abilities, but they always come to me when they need something because even they have limits. This one is definitely different. She doesn't really feel quite the same. Especially now that she...is alive? What does that even mean?/_

The questions just keep tumbling through the Doctor's mind with no end in sight and very, very few answers. A soft touch from the TARDIS lets him know that he's about to have a visitor. He's just about to ask her to hide the door when the tea set appears on a table with a new chair across from his. Sighing, he knows the request would be futile. He really wants to be alone to  _/stew in peace,_ _ **thank you**_ _!/ h_ e thinks indignantly.

She brushes his mind with an affectionate hum, but doesn't let him hide himself away. He glances to his other side making sure that Rose's chair is still there. This time, the TARDIS gives him a mental eye-roll and he receives a very definite impression that She would have called him an idiot if She could have been sitting there with him.  _/Fine. Maybe her ladyship will finally_ _ **answer**_ _some of these questions,/_ he tosses back petulantly.

_**#rude#** _

_/Yes and on purpose, too,/_ he mentally smirks.

He looks over as the Sphynx strides in, depositing herself in the chair the TARDIS has made for her. Obviously with her needs in mind the TARDIS had made her a chair with a very narrow back that is somewhat curly, a little art nouveau, but it works perfectly for the wing issue.  _/Wings! What a bizarre choice./_  He is pretty sure he has never known another Eternal that...  _inspired_.

The TARDIS sends him the image that She thinks the Sphynx may have liked. Now he can see where the wings and the tail came from, but other than being covered in short gold fur there is nothing lion-esque about her. Again, he's surprised by her ability or even desire to be creative.  _/She did say that she didn't interact with others of her 'kind,'/_ he reminds himself _._  So she is definitely an Eternal, no matter how odd she feels.

Perhaps that independence is what makes her so... unique. The TARDIS hums at him in agreement, but he can tell that She is implying a whole lot more than She's letting on. He's as ready as he can be to talk so he guesses that whatever answers he gets, he'll get them from the Sphynx. -sigh- He's pretty sure there's irony there that he's missing.

* * *

"Right. So, what..."

"Tea, Doctor. Tell me about tea," the Sphynx interrupts. "You told me some of it's history in the Universe, and your introduction to it on Earth, but tell me why we are having tea. Please, " she adds, on the TARDIS's prompting that it's polite. Inwardly, she's amused at the entire concept of politeness. It should be much more efficient to just say what is necessary, but she understands that it's at times a good idea to utilize a knowledge of custom when dealing with mortals. The TARDIS is even more amused knowing what the Sphynx does not, that she and the Doctor have similar views on politeness.

"Tea? You want to know about tea?" the Doctor asks, narrowing his eyes at the Sphynx, thinking this a ploy to keep him off balance.  _/I knew it!/_

"Yes, tea. I know you have a great many questions, and I will answer everything that I am able, but I am curious about the tea, and my Child says you find comfort in it. So, I would like to start with a topic that is more soothing. If this is not acceptable, please ask what you will. I am here." She spreads her hands in a peace making gesture that the Doctor finds irritatingly comforting.

 _/Okay, now I feel like an ass. Not ginger, rude, and an ass,/_ he tells himself sourly _._  He can sense that she's sincere. The new presence of her in his mind radiates her truth. He's still bothered by that, but acknowledges that it could be useful. That thought makes him add another couple of layers of shielding to his own side-just in case.

He isn't sure how to take her concern. Before, in the kitchen, it had angered him, but if she actually means it, then maybe everything else she has said is true, and that is a problem. That will lead to hope. He is positive that  _hope_  will kill him if it all works out the way everything usually does...hearts broken, his dreams, desires, and all hope blasted into ash at his feet. Ashes that he is just expected to walk away from and keep going, keep saving, keep caring...about what? Nothing cares for him. What is the point? With a mental smack the TARDIS brings him back to this moment and temporarily derails the usual my-life-sucks-and-I-deserve-it internal monologue.

 _/Ouch! I know_ _ **you**_ _care!/ h_ e throws at the TARDIS _._ Rubbing his head and sighing, he looks back at the Sphynx to tell her about...tea.  _/But then Q &A and no interfering!/_ He mentally points a finger at the TARDIS, and receives a musical chuckle in reply.

"Erm, tea. I do enjoy tea, especially when I'm thinking, which is all the time of course. I am brilliant after all, and I can go on and on just wondering about this and that. Rose says, I drink sugar with a little tea added in, but I will have you know that tea is perfectly wonderful sweet. It has so many recuperative powers. It was absolutely necessary when I regenerated this last time. Nearly let the Earth get blown up just for want of some tea...," he trails off remembering those couple of days when he had first regenerated. How worried he was for Rose the entire time, feeling like he'd been hit by a truck. Derailed again, he changes the subject.

"I assume the TARDIS told you about Rose. You must mean what happened at Satellite 5, when you talk about the TARDIS bonding Rose to the Vortex, but what do you mean there was or is a plan? How can the Universe care about Rose?" he asks. The Doctor leans forward and scrubs his face with his hands, looking back up at the Sphynx with such despair and vulnerability in his gaze that her hearts ache for him as he continues, "I care, more than I should have ever let myself, which pretty much guarantees that nothing good will ever happen for Rose and I. Please, just let me say good-bye.  _Please,_  do not give me hope. I don't think I can stay sane...this time when it's all ripped away."


	9. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's a plan!

Shaking himself to break up his thoughts, the Doctor reaches for the tea and changes subjects, again. "Sooooo, tea. I will make you a cup of tea. I guess you don't know how you take it, so let's try it plain first." Handing the Sphynx a cup and making himself one, she watches him carefully, taking a sip when he does. He nearly snorts tea from his nose at the look on her face.

 _/Apparently black tea alone is not a preference,/_  he thinks as he starts to giggle at her, and then can't stop. He laughs long and hard. Every time he tries to stop and glances at her confused face with the tea cup hovering between her mouth and the saucer, he falls into another fit.

 _/Should I be worried, my Child? Is he...unwell?/_ Her query to the TARDIS is met with laughter as well.

_**#no/fine/needed release/good for him/try tea like this#** _

With the new skill shown her by the Child, she adds milk and sugar to her tea. The Doctor, who is clutching his sides and gasping in his chair with a smile still hovering around his lips, watches her fix her tea. Abruptly he sits up straight and the smile slides from his face as he watches her make her tea exactly like Rose did. He stares transfixed as she tastes it. The delighted smile on her face is almost more than he can take, but before he can decide what to say the Sphynx gets there first.

"The Child suggested I try the tea this way. I like it. I like...tasting." She peers at the Timelord over her teacup, and hopes the man will relax so they can finally get to work.

The Doctor blinks at her and decides to let the tea thing go. No point in freaking out.  _/Rose's way, really?/_  The TARDIS just mentally shrugs at him.  _/Fine. Childish, I get it./_ He manages to squeak out a, "Me, too." before the Sphynx begins speaking again.

Setting the tea aside the Sphynx decides to begin answering his questions, and he has asked quite a few in the past hours. "To begin, the Child told me of Rose and how you both feel about her. Where Rose is concerned, I know everything that has happened, from 'Run!' to the Wall, but I would like to answer some of your other questions before we continue. It is more important that you understand  ** _me_**  first." The Doctor had just opened his mouth which he now clicks shut. All vestiges of his earlier mirth is gone, but she can feel his curiosity through their link when she focuses on it.

"Alright, I'm listening." He sounds a touch petulant even to himself.  _/I am an idiot. There is an Eternal in_ _ **MY**_ _Library, and she is about to volunteer information. This will never happen again, take what you can get, moron!/_  he chides himself. Clutching his tea he allows his face to relax into the look of curiosity he's actually feeling.

"Your first questions were about my origins and purpose. I do not know the correct answer. I have always been here in this Universe. I feel the anomalies and desires in the fabric of reality and I help to repair or encourage them. While I can be everywhere at once, I am not always aware of all of myself unless I focus. This is how I became aware of Rassilon. He was using his machinery and equations to manipulate the fabric of space and eventually Time. A portion of me became aware of the ripples his tinkering created, and I was curious. I did not often interact with Ephemerals, but what he was doing was so, intriguing. May I give/share these experiences with you the way the Child and I shared them?" She asks him tentatively, not wanting to anger him again.

The Doctor has been listening amazed. So many thoughts and ideas are pouring through his mind. All the times that he's thought he noticed purposeful manipulations to star systems and galaxies. Had that been her work? He's met false gods before, but the Sphynx might actually qualify.  _/Blimey, that's humbling./_

At the sharing question, he recognizes that she is giving him a choice-She wants him to know. Part of his mind screams at him to say no, but the greater portion, the portion that made him steal the TARDIS in the first place, that need to find out part, makes him narrow his eyes at her, but he replies, "Oh, yes." Narrowing her eyes a touch, the Sphynx reaches for him with her mind.

About 3.36 seconds later he thinks he might regret that decision. The flow of images and experiences is nearly overwhelming.  _/Just relax. You know how this works, it's just been awhile./_  He lets himself take it all in, cataloguing the flow for later more in depth perusal. The images of Rassilon. The sensations of how his experiments impacted Reality. Their conversations/ theTears/ theCoral/ theSinging/ theFirstTARDIS/ theCreationoftheEYE/ galaxies/nebulae/ Stars/ expanding...coalescing...TIME...24 minutes and 6 seconds later...

"Stop! STOP!" Gasping, the Doctor is clutching the arms of his chair looking pale, sweat standing on his skin and running down his face. Taking a shaking breath, the Doctor pulls a handkerchief from a pocket and wipes his face. "I...I'm out of practice for that intense of a transfer, and SO much TIME has passed. I had no idea, no thought to how, or why...I know what we were taught, but there is so much more. Why did Rassilon never mention your help? You helped! Such pivotal moments in our development...Blimey, and so beautiful. STARS! I think I know what you did with the Star outside now, weeelll, I mean I felt how you have manipulated other stars, and assume it's similar. I can't even really comprehend how  **I**  would do it. I'm brilliant, and I have no idea."

"So we understand each other now? I apologize for giving so much, but it is so much faster, and I require you to understand me, my motives, our purpose; time is limited," she states.

"Yes, yes. I feel I have an idea about you now. I feel... I can" taking a deep breath, "...trust you. You don't usually work this way...so decisively. Why now, and you left out the part about why you care about Rose and I. How is she important, what plan, and what did the TARDIS start that didn't get finished when Rose was...lost? I need to know. There will be no  **plan** , if I don't understand what's going on."

Just as the Sphynx is about to answer there's a beeping from the Console room. Instantly, the Doctor jumps up and runs out of the Library. This gives the TARDIS and the Sphynx a moment together.

**#the wave has reached its destination/building/soon/hope plan works/must finish explanation#**

_/Yes, my Daughter. I will finish the explanation. I know we will succeed. I have very few concerns. It is...complicated. You are certain that Rose was bonded with the Vortex long enough in this Universe? It is the only thing that would guarantee her survival in the other./_

**#certain/ready/only required event/frightened/sadness/excited/hope#**

She is going to give her Time Lord and her Child more than hope, and he isn't going to stop her. Never boring, this mortal. If she makes it through all this intact, she may have to visit more often. Taking another sip of tea, she settles herself more comfortably in her chair and continues refining the inner-workings of the Plan with her Child.


	10. Trust and Hope

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor needs to work through a couple of things before he remembers what hope feels like.

The Doctor stumbles in his rush ending up in a heap at the base of the Console. "Ow!" Stuffing his hand in his mouth and clutching a knee, he groans softly for a second before the insistent beeping gets noticed again. "Right! Great!" Jumping up and pressing a few buttons; he grins. Satisfied, he throws himself at the jump seat.

"The signal has reached Pete's World intact and is now building to a state that Rose's mind will accept as a dream. Brilliant, me! Knew it would work. Aren't we just fantastic, Old Girl?" he asks as he leans back and pats a strut affectionately. Noticing the Sphynx didn't join him, he is somewhat disappointed that she isn't witnessing his current brilliance. It's always more fun, when there's someone to show off for.  _/Well at least when everything is working, that is./_

 **#more to learn/waiting#** The TARDIS sends this with musical chimes of amusement and hums of affection.

With a huff and an eye roll, the Doctor levers himself off the jump seat and heads back to the Library. On his way there, the Doctor notices the TARDIS has moved Rose's room directly across from it. Recently, he has had a potentially not-so-great habit of laying on her bed for a couple of hours telling her what he's been doing every day. It made his hearts hurt less to imagine her hearing him, and somehow knowing that he was trying soooo very hard to reach her. That he hasn't forgotten. He would NEVER forget her.

 _/I_ _ **could**_ _never forget her. I made myself for her,/_ he thinks in a moment of clarity. Laying a palm on the door, he whispers a quiet, "Soon" to the Rose-shaped hole in his hearts. Not thinking anything of the move, the Doctor turns and continues into the Library, the Sphynx, and more answers.

" 'allo Sphynx. I was being quite impressive out there, ya know. My whole plan of getting a signal to Rose is working perfectly, of course. Just need her to dream me up and meet me wherever the signals comes out. I have no doubt she'll be there very soon. My Rose, is amazing!" He knew he sounded like a pompous git, but he didn't really care. This was the first really good news that he's had all year, and he is the one who made it happen! Preening a bit, he gazes a moment at the Sphynx expectantly.

The Sphynx blinks at him slowly, and he can feel her amusement-not condescending, but happy for his joy. That's nice. "So, plan. There is one? What needs to happen, and what do you expect to accomplish?" The Doctor asks this as he resumes his position in the chair feeling some of his earlier reservations return.

The Sphynx starts outlining her Plan with the TARDIS supplying images and reassurance that it should/would/ **must**  all work out. The Sphynx is about a minute and a half into her explanation when the Doctor can no longer sit still and starts to pace around the Library; alternately stuffing his hands in his pockets and then burying his hands in his hair. Pockets...step-step-step...Hair...step-step-step-step...Pockets, and so on.

" **NO**!" he states emphatically. The Doctor stops in front of the fireplace in a pose that screams adamant refusal: legs apart, arms crossed, and a glare that some would say flickered more than a little Oncoming Storm around the edges. "It's too dangerous for Rose. How can you guarantee the Void won't kill her, or space, or the transition? How could some of the Vortex Energy from the Heart of the TARDIS get left behind and bonded to Rose? I took it all out. New me because of it, and I was nearly raised on the stuff. Rose is Human, just Human. There is no way..." The Sphynx interrupts him as he begins to pace again.

"Doctor, how Human do you think Rose is now, or for that matter how Human she was when she was lost? My Child shows me you did not check, you were damaged and distracted. The piece of my Child stayed, bonding the Vortex to Rose because it had to. It is the only reason Rose lived."  _/It is also currently keeping her alive,/_ she thinks to herself, but she isn't going to tell the Doctor that just yet; this is difficult enough.

"How long do you think Rose was filled with the Vortex; how long did it take her to reach you, Doctor? Time is not linear. For you, she was only gone a few minutes, an hour? She spent what I would call a ' _Moment,'_  interacting with the Universe the same way I do. She spread the words Bad Wolf everywhere she needed them. She saw every possible outcome for herself, for you, for the TARDIS, and most importantly, she saw that the Universe needed to be whole again. She is part of the plan, because it is Her Plan. For Her, it was long enough to lay the foundation for where we are today, for what is about to happen, and for my and perhaps other's involvement. Sharing with my Child, when you first arrived, was my time to learn from Rose/Bad Wolf Her Plan. Everything that has happened was  _meant_  to make these events occur. Your regeneration, your regard, her changing/growing/learning, Canary Wharf, and her time in the Parallel Universe-all of this was necessary. Consciously, she does not know this, but when she and the Vortex were one, she became so much more-she chose, and she chose this."

The Oncoming Storm and the fierceness in his stance dissolve. He can only stare at the Sphynx in barely disguised horror, once again agape. Swaying a little unsteadily the TARDIS moves the couch behind him and he collapses onto it. Burying his face in his hands, he can't seem to help himself, he makes it all..his..fault.

"Oh, Rose", he groans. "I am so thick, thickity-thick-THICK! I never checked! How could I have done that to you? You never had a choice with the Vortex in you. Your supposed to be Human, safe and just Human, fleeting and happy. You're supposed to meet some nice Human bloke, settle down, and have your nice Human life; filled with fat Human babies...forgetting me. What have I done?!" The self-defeating tirade wound down with a sob.

The Sphynx can't quite comprehend what the Doctor is doing. She sympathizes with his grief because he is obviously grieving, but what for? It doesn't really make sense. His Rose wanted them to be together. She loves this Time Lord, and it is painfully obvious that he feels the same.  _/Is he being obtuse on purpose?/_  She asks her Child, hoping for a little clarity. The TARDIS sighs.

**#idiot/sees Rose as Child/needs protecting/not allowed/need love/if Human, can deny himself/Time Lord rules/idiot#**

In her mind, the Sphynx sees the Doctor over and over again in events past and events to come, make decisions for Rose without her knowing, and even when she does; without her consent. His reasoning is always her safety, but he is unwilling to see how incredibly selfish he is being. Obtusely, he denies his love for her so strenuously, based on now outdated rules of non-involvement and a sadness that she will whither and die. Rose spent her entire time with her new, new Doctor confused and unsure about how even  **she**  should feel about him.

 _/Ridiculous! The man's last and first thought was Rose, and yet he denied her. Idiot is apt,/_ the Sphynx thinks uncharitably. The TARDIS agrees completely.

"Doctor... **Doctor**!" Needing to get his attention the Sphynx takes his chin in her hand and lifts his face to look up at her. "Should you not be pleased that you are not only the path, but also the goal in this journey? She is much more than you give her credit for, and you do her a dis-service to think so little of her needs and the decisions that she has made. This is not  **all**  about you. You have to trust our Rose, and know that these events are taking place for a reason. Once again, you are being asked to save the Universe as you know it, but this time, your happiness is part of the plan. We cannot do any of this without you, Time Lord. Rose, the Child, and I require your assistance. Without you, we will fail, absolutely. It will take Time, but the Universe will correct itself, and even I do not know what will be left when that state is reached. You must believe." Taking a step back from him and resuming her seat, all she can do now is hope he will understand. The entire endeavor teeters on the edge at this moment, and the Universe pauses in anticipation.

Finally, he 'hears' her, and feels her complete determination to see this through, for he and Rose to be together. Though he has a feeling she hasn't shared everything, he takes in a shuddering breath and nods. The Sphynx, The TARDIS, and the Universe all sigh. If the Doctor had been paying attention, he would have seen the Sphynx's timeline shift dramatically; he wasn't paying attention. The Sphynx felt it, as did her Child.

 _/She's right,/_ he forces himself to believe _._ How can he not trust Rose? She saved him so many times. He believes in her. It is a habit, this mea culpa routine. A habit he doesn't enjoy, but feels he deserves. The Sphynx is implying that he can also deserve to be happy.

/ _Happy, right. If I'm honest with myself, which I try very hard not to be most times, I desperately want to spend the rest of my existence with Rose. The Sphynx is trying to give me the hope that maybe, this was Rose's plan when she was basically a goddess, making all this (_ _ **whateverthisis**_ _) happen. Hope. I love and hate hope. Which will it be today?/_ Glancing again into the Sphynx's eyes, he nods more firmly and whispers, "Allon-sy."


	11. Ring Around the Rosie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at the other side of the Universal divide.

_-Roooooseee, Rose...I'm looking for you, but you must come to me. I need you Rose, please find me...Roooose Tyylerrr.-_

* * *

The gentle but insistent ministrations of the chemo-nurse wake Rose from her dream. She is done with this week's treatment and as the nurse is disengaging the picc-lines he asks, "All done for today Rose, were you having nice dreams?"

"Thanks Rory, yeah...well I think it was nice. Can't remember much of it," she replies with a smile for her favourite nurse, and sits forward, readjusting her shirt to hide the port. Her movements are practiced and calm. Not the actions of someone newly diagnosed.

* * *

Three years ago, Rose was new to the Parallel Universe she still calls Pete's World, in the privacy of her thoughts. Nearly lost to the Void, she was thankful to have been caught by Pete, but the grief at loosing the Doctor nearly killed her then and there. For months she would have been fine with that, to just die. What was the point? Nothing felt right. The Earth didn't turn right-too fast. The air didn't smell right-too clean. Zeppelins...really? Zeppelins? Chips! How can a parallel Earth not have potatoes. She felt like she was in some sort of weird Purgatory.

Her mother though, was a force to be reckoned with, and Jackie Tyler wasn't going to let her daughter waste away. After several very loud  _conversations_ , Rose decided that if she couldn't live for the Doctor, she could at least live for her mum...and her coming brother. She's getting a brother, at the age of 21, who knew?

The next year, saw her meet her new brother Tony and reach a place where Pete became 'Dad' in her heart as well as her life. And one more really good thing? While working at Torchwood, she found a very real confidence that no matter how wrong everything still felt, she could take care of herself, and people relied on her. She was very good at her job. The two years with her Doctor made her uniquely qualified to work with aliens of all sorts, and the bizarre debris that kept falling out of the rift-Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth. Luckily she'd had lots of help and a great team.

One year ago, she began having weak spells. A couple of times she almost endangered a mission when she just fell over mid-stride. No warning, her legs just wouldn't hold her up any longer and her head would be spinning. This was obviously inconvenient when you're running to or from trouble. She couldn't continue putting her team at risk, so she switched to a desk position while they investigated her vertigo.

That, was an interesting process. In the initial barrage of tests, blood draws, poking and prodding, they discovered that she wasn't precisely human any longer. Her DNA was definitely weird and getting weirder, her blood was just a touch off, and she wasn't ageing the way she should(which meant at all).

These changes were at war with the human part of her, and it was now making her sick. She'd heard the doctors talking about mutations, gene splicing, bone marrow anomalies; none of the esoteric language meant anything other than she was dying, and no one knew exactly when, how, or why. She would very likely have ended up as a lab rat if her dad wasn't the head of Torchwood. Lucky for her.

* * *

Now, on her fifth round of experimental chemotherapy, this is all familiar. In the last week, she's actually beginning to feel better than she has in months, but she isn't growing any hair back yet. Tony loves her bare skull; he'll pet it and tell her how soft it is.  _/Silly boy-child,/_  she smiles this thought as Rory is wheeling her toward the outpatient area where her mum and Tony will pick her up.

She could have done these treatments at home, but she doesn't want Tony to know what she goes through, and she is uninterested in associating the treatments with the safety of the mansion where she'd moved back, after she became too sick to easily be on her own.

/T _'was real nice dreaming of the Doctor wantin' me to find him. It felt so real, this dream. It smelled like salt and sand; could almost hear the wind and...waves?_ / She is starting to get a bit of a headache trying so hard to remember. / _That's the third time I've 'ad that dream,/_ she ponders. Maybe she'll have it again and it'll be clearer. They feel somehow important.

She still dreams of the Doctor sometimes, but they have finally grown fewer and far between. The first year after losing him, it was all she dreamed about-that damned wall, the Daleks, the howling sound of the Void, the look on the Doctor's face when she lost her grip, the final time she heard the four-time heartsbeat through the wall before he was gone forever.

She knew it was forever now. She was almost comfortable with it. It bothers her that he will have no idea that she is sick, but he thought she was human. He expects her to have some idiotic normal life and die like a human.  _/Riiiight...human. Not so much,/_  She thinks sarcastically to herself.  _/Well, I hope he isn't alone. Just because I can't move on doesn't mean he shouldn't./_  She tries her best to actually mean it, but part of her still grieves, still loves, and desperately misses him.

Rory wheels up to the usual place next to the check-in counter, and Rose waits for Tony. This is part of their game. The toddler squeals when he sees his "'osie," and runs over to stand next to the wheelchair where Rory picks him up and deposits him gently into Rose's lap. Rose gives her little brother a squeeze, and he pets her head with one hand, "Uv, oo, 'osie," he says around the other hand is his mouth. Jackie walks up with a smile, and they all head out to the curb. "'ello, Rory. How's your Amy doing?" Jackie asks.

"Hi Jackie. She's great, looks like she swallowed a planet, but she and the baby are fine." He says this last bit with a prideful grin that lights up the room as they head outside.

Once at the curb, Jackie transfers Tony from Rose's lap to his carseat in the back of the limo. As Rory holds the chair steady Rose gets up and heads towards the other side, turning to smile at Rory, she waves a fond farewell and the driver helps her into the car. Jackie slides in next to her with a sigh asking how it went.

"Y'know, mum, the usual. I slept the entire time. I am starting to feel better though. These last few days have been much easier. I dreamt of the Doctor again, though. That same dream. They keep gettin' more detailed." She said all this with her head back on the seat, eyes closed, and a small smile on her face.

Jackie, seeing the smile, thinks her heart might break. She's so worried for her daughter. She'd convinced herself that she was okay before, when she thought she would lose her daughter to that strange alien who so obviously loved her, no matter that 'we're just friends' act. Bollocks! But then he was gone, and they were here, building a new life with her same/new husband and definitely new son added to the family. They'd come so far. Now, watching this slow decay; it is so hard. Anything that makes Rose happy, Jackie will encourage.  _/Just please don't die, Rose. What would I do?/_  "Oh, that's wonderful, sweetheart. Was he still looking for ya?"

Looking over at her mother and smiling, knowing that she's covering her unease with the cheerful tone and breezy sentiment, "Ya. He's calling my name, sayin' he's looking for me; that I have to meet 'im, jus' like before, but this time I could smell the place. It smells like the ocean, but it's colder. Well, anyway, it's a nice dream. Sad though, he sounds sad." Rose finishes, staring off into space with a small frown on her brow.

Jackie watches her daughter, and hopes. She hopes Rose might actually be getting better _/maybe this new treatment is working_ /, hopes that Tony will really get to know his sister, hopes that she might see Rose happy one day. It never occurs to her to hope for the Doctor, but she would have. She's pretty sure she has enough hope for all of them. She's good at hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I sympathize if this brings up any sad memories for people. My apologies. Thanks for reading.


	12. Burning Up A Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We have contact!

Chapter 12 Burning up a Sun

Rubbing his hands across his face and through his hair, which is thoroughly mussed by this point, The Doctor stands, stretches, and turns toward the door of the Library. "Let's move to the Console room. I have a feeling we'll be needed there shortly. I should be receiving a proximity alert once the signal at the aperture recognises Rose's mental signature. Your little Plan involves a whole lot of jigger-pokery, so I had better get started on my part of it, yours is more like pure sorcery." The Doctor looks back and finishes with a smile wanting to reassure her that he means it, he will help...he believes.

Now, it is her turn to nod. She felt him come to the decision, and she smiles broadly back at him. "Sorcery! Indeed Doctor, perhaps it appears so to Time Lords," she smirks. "My actions I do with will alone, but do not mistake them as simple or illusion. What I and the Child contemplate is quite dangerous to us as well, but that does not change the necessity. I do not have enough language to attempt to tell you what I will be doing, I could share it with you, if you need the knowledge?"

"Nope! I'm not finished with that last batch." He says, wincing, "I trust you." The Doctor lets lose an enormous breath."Phew! That feels great! Now I have someone else to share the ending of the Universe with. We can blame each other in our final micro-seconds instead of just myself!" His says this last teasingly, with an eye-roll and a flinging of his hands into the air as he reaches the Console.

The TARDIS and the Sphynx give him identical snorts of amusement.

* * *

Several hours later finds the Doctor well down in the bowels of the TARDIS, reconfiguring the stability circuits and taking advantage of the moment to fix several other lingering issues within reach. For once in their life together the TARDIS is visibly helping him, by lighting up the connections that need to change, the ones that have always actually needed fixing, and zapping him when he gets distracted by something completely unrelated.

**#timing/focus/700 years!#**

"Ow! Dammit, would you stop that. I wasn't going to doing anything to the variable phaz...OW! I just thought it would fit better over there, but obviously you don't agree, so fine...FINE! Why are you sort of helping me now? You know how much easier this would be if you'd 'helped' before? And a Time Lord running out of time, that's an oxymoron, thank you!"

**#Snort/Rose/you never asked#**

"Oh, I see who the favourite is now. And to think all these years I've..." Well above his head he hears a new beeping start. Looking up he sees the Sphynx peering down at him. "Doctor, it is time." Nearly strangling himself not once, but twice in his haste to extricate himself from the morass of wires, tubes, and hang-y...things, he finally pulls his long lanky body up through the grating and rushes to the Console checking the readings. It is indeed the proximity alert. Letting out a triumphant whoop he looks expectantly to the Sphynx seeing if her part is complete.

"So, are we ready?" he asks.

* * *

While the Doctor was reworking connections to help her Child maintain the position at the volatile event horizons between this Universe, the Howling, and the Parallel Universe, as well as steadily siphoning an energy stream from the dying star to fuel the communications the Doctor already had in place, the Sphynx had been working on the star, and preparing herself for what was to come next.

From the outside, the creature who refers to herself as the Sphynx stood to the side of the console, limbs loose and head back. She was in general completely still, but every so often the feathers of her wings would lift and settle as if in a breeze, and the colours of them were constantly shifting, growing brighter or darker seemingly at random intervals.

Snapping to consciousness a minute or two before the alert sounded, the Sphynx took that time to catalogue where the parts of herself were for the upcoming battle. It wasn't going to be a fight between entities of any sort, the star was glad for its dying to have purpose and meaning, and was doing its best to do everything she needed. It was going to be a battle of energies through several of the higher dimensions, and merely a tiring struggle here on this plane.

She, who had danced with comets and lit stars from pockets of dust, had never done anything this complicated. The Doctor thought the creation of the Eye of Harmony was difficult, this made that Universe altering event look like lighting a stove. She would not tell him that though. He was worried enough, and it was about to get worse. She has just caught a glimpse of Rose through the boundaries, and the Doctor is not going to be happy. She turns to walk to the open grating and looks down towards the Doctor as the beeping commences, "Doctor, it is time."

* * *

"Yes Doctor everything is in place. We can begin." She knows he needs reassurance, so she gives him a smile she hopes is convincing. The feelings she's having has started her hearts to pounding, and she isn't so sure about this whole living thing anymore, no matter how lovely tea was.

It must have been good enough, with a grin of his own the Doctor starts flipping switches with one hand and typing madly at the keyboard with the other, watching the monitor closely. After nearly a minute of this, he steps to the side of the console with sonic in hand, takes a deep steadying breath, and looks over at the Sphynx with a nod. She strides down to the doors of the TARDIS with determination and throws them wide open. In the center of the doorway, there is a dinner plate sized undulation in the fabric of space. Concentrating on it, the Sphynx can just make out parts of what looks like it might be a beach; clouds, grey light, and what seems like in the distance, but also right there, a blurry woman-shaped form. Looking over her shoulder at the Doctor, their eyes meet and she nods her readiness.

He is a little bothered by the look in her changeable, sun-coloured eyes (is that sympathy?), but he's too giddy to pay it any mind. He's about to see Rose, talk to Rose, and if everything happens the way the Sphynx and the TARDIS intends,  _hold_  Rose. This is about to be the second best day since, "Run!"

Taking another steadying breath he points the Sonic at the Console and presses the button.

"Rose. Hello? Rose?"

"Doctor?! I can hear you but I can't see anythin'. Are you coming?" His hearts immediately start to pound at the sound of her voice.

"Oi! Hang-on!" The Doctor adjusts the setting on the sonic, and tries again.  _/Dammit! The holographic waveform projector looked like it was working just fi.../_

At that moment an image of Rose pops into the TARDIS. An image of a very thin, very bald Rose. Just as the image had resolved, the wind had blown the scarf from her head as she tries to stop it.

"Rose!" The Doctor blurts out, eyes wide.

"Oh, Doctor."


	13. Dårlig Ulv Stranden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose's journey to the beach...you know which one.

Chapter 13 Dårlig Ulv Stranden

Watching his face slide through joy, surprise, disbelief, and then sadness, breaks her heart. This moment might do what the cancer has yet to succeed in doing.

* * *

Over the past several days she started feeling well enough that she'd begun walking the grounds of the mansion every night. She's up to 30 minutes now. This seems like a small victory, logically, but she treasures the time alone in the fresh air, and considers it a fine reward.

She's dreaming of the Doctor every night, all night, now. Most of them are the same dream over and over, with ever increasing clarity. Not all of them though. She has also started having a few of the frightening ones again, but they are almost always chased off by the Doctor calling for her to come meet him. Embarrassingly, she has also started fantasising about him again.

She thought she was over the longing for him physically and emotionally. That doesn't mean that she's had anything to do with anyone else. At Torchwood they called her the Ice Queen. Jake and Mickey found this hysterical, since she was fine with them, but they helped her out and made sure any likely bloke that might be interested knew, that she was off limits and uninterested for the time being. Her friends were worried for her though, and they hoped she'd move on at some point.

Tonight, she's walked out to the small duck pond and is sitting on her favourite bench, with her head back gazing at the stars and thinking of the Doctor.  _/I wonder what he's up to? Probably galavanting around some weird planet bein' rude to the locals, and tryin' to get back to the TARDIS at a full run, hand in hand with some new companion; showin' off./_ She can't quite smother the pang of envy.

Sighing, she shifts her thoughts to the TARDIS; that was much safer for her heart anyway.  _/I hope she's keepin' him safe, not taking him to anywhere too dangerous./_  Starting to doze off a bit, Rose begins talking to the TARDIS as if she were in her room onboard.

"Hey, ol' girl, how's it been? Miss me? I miss you, so much! I had no idea how much I would miss your Song, and your chiming laughter, or the never ending hot water _."_  Sighing deeply, Rose quietly starts humming to herself while she longingly muses to the stars. Softly, gently, a Song starts to weave in and out of her humming, and Rose begins having, The Dream.

-Roooooseee, Rose...I am looking for you, but you must come to me. I need you Rose, please find me...Roooose Tyylerrr.-

Hearing the Doctor as if he's standing behind her, Rose turns to look for him. She's standing on a beach. It's cold and windy, a grey day. The water is choppy, and the area around her is craggy. There are black rocks flowing from the hills around her and down to the water further down the beach, but no Doctor.

-Roooooseee, Rose...I am looking for you, but you must come to me. I need you Rose, please find me...Roooose Tyylerrr.-

Rose stands on the shore trying to figure out what is expected of her when music begins whispering around her. Hearing the Song in the air she looks up. The Song reaches its' crescendo and with a flash of illumination Rose knows where she is.  **She**   **knows**. Bad. Wolf.

* * *

For once sitting up doesn't make her head spin, and she's grateful. She  **knows** , she gets it now. The Doctor has been calling her. Her! For real, calling for her. She has to go, and she has to go immediately.  _/Mum is gonna think I've lost it! After all this time, and I need to get to... Where was it? It had something to with Bad Wolf./_  Well, she would just need to do a little harmless research before she confessed to her parents and friends that she needed to leave immediately on what might be a wild goose chase.  _/ Yep, lost it!/_

Absurdly pleased with herself, she rushes back to the house, and hardly needs to rest at all. 15 minutes of panting and a glass of water absolutely counts as hardly any. After assuring her mum, that she's feeling great, which really she is, she went upstairs to her room and the internet.

Depositing herself in front of her computer with a glass of water and a bag of daikon crisps, she's ready. Daikon crisps are not remotely as good as ones made from potatoes, but they are salty, and that is the only flavour that tasted right once she was on chemo. Munching away, she begins her search.

 _/Okay, let's see, we'll just type in bad wolf annnd... Doodle returns 1.6 million hits. Greaaaat. The first page is all Red Riding Hood stuff. That's sooo unhelpful. Weird what stuff is the same, and what's different,_ / she thinks.  _/How about Bad Wolf Sea...nothin', Bad Wolf Rocks...nothin', Bad Wolf Beach...Oh that's more promising with three unique hits. Bad Beach, Spain...wolf seen nearby..., Beaches near Bad Wolf Bay, Norway, and Wolf Beach...bad rip-tides.../_  As soon as the reads it  **she knows** , Bad Wolf Bay, Dårlig Ulv Stranden. That's where she needs to go, Norway. "Well, bugger," she says to herself. Of course, it wouldn't be anywhere close...not even Cardif.

Deciding that having the let's-drive-to-Norway-today-because-my-lost-boyfriend-(nope)alien-friend-is-calling conversation could wait till morning, she heads to bed and soend the night dreaming of her Doctor. The next morning, Rose is very fidgety at breakfast. So much so that her mother asks, "Rose, sweetheart, what's the matter with you? Is your skin feeling funny again?"

That, had been a less than pleasant experience with one of the earlier treatments. She had felt like her own skin wanted to walk right off her body, blech! "No mum, I'm fine. I jus..."

"Well, try to eat somethin' Rose. You know it helps when you can keep the food down." Her mum's right, and Rose is feeling hungry this morning. Sometimes seeing eggs or even just the smell will send her running/shuffling/crawling away from the room, depending on the day. Today is a good day, and she's able to eat two eggs and an entire piece of toast. Quite proud of herself, she feels more confident to make her request on a full belly.

Being a Saturday, she knows her parents will be in the parlour, reading papers or watching the telly, while Tony is out at the park with his nanny. Walking into the room she almost loses her nerve. "Hello Rose. Glad to see you're feeling so well today. Did you want to join us?" Pete asks this with a happy smile on his face.

They've been so busy at Torchwood lately that he has missed seeing Rose, and he's very happy to see her looking so much better. She even had some colour in her cheeks today. Perching on the edge of a chair, Rose jumps right in, "No, well yes, but no..." taking a breath she starts again, eye firmly locked on her wringing hands, "Mum, Dad, the Doctor, he's callin' to me. He's been usin' those dreams I mentioned. That's why they're always the same. I had one last night while I was out on the bench at the pond, but this time I was awake, and I was there. I saw the place he's leadin' me to. It's Dårlig Ulv Stranden, in Norway. Mum, dad, it means Bad Wolf Bay. I know you're gonna think I've gone bonkers, but I..."

She'd been looking at her hands the entire time, so hadn't seen her dad get up and walk toward her. Putting a hand on her shoulder, she looks up at him and he says quietly, "Rose, stop. We'll go get packed and ready. We understand. Give us an hour, and we'll be ready, okay? Do you want anyone else to go, Mickey or Jake?"

Launching herself from the chair and throwing herself into Pete's arms, "Thanks Dad! Thank you so much"

Jackie comes up to be a part of the hug as well. "Oh Rose, we knew this day might happen. For a long time we hoped it would, and then we gave up that hope, but you see this is wonderful. The Doctor can fix whatever is wrong. Rose, he can make you better."

With tears in her eyes, Rose replies, "But mum, what if he won't want me now; I'm so different."

With a significant look at Jackie, Pete leaves to go make the necessary calls and preparations. Jackie puts Rose at arms length shaking her lightly. "Now you listen to me, Rose Marion Tyler. That daft alien loves you, an' he's callin' for ya, an' we're goin'. I knew you'd move out on your own at some point, but then you got sick, so I thought I'd be there for ya no matter what. But now, you have a chance Rose, a real chance. And if he so much as looks at you funny, I will slap him into next month!" The tears had started at the word 'Now' for both of them.

Rose wraps her arms around her mum tight and they share their intermingled grief and new found hope. Some minutes later they share watery smiles. "I need to go grab my bag and call Mickey. I want 'im to come with us."

"Of course. Tell him we'll pick him up on the way," Pete says this last on his way upstairs to pack. Jackie gives her another smile, and follows him up the stairs to do the same.

* * *

It takes them a few days to get to the beach in Norway. Everyone tries to be cheerful for Rose, but it's taking a toll on them all. They know she's leaving them, and while they're happy for her, they love her, and will miss having her in their lives. She understands, and feels the same way, but she can't help it, she also feels excited/terrified/happy? Yes, she is the happiest she's been in three years at the thought of her Doctor coming for her. She had nearly forgotten what Hope felt like. She ponders all of this as she heads alone to the spot on the beach that she had seen in her dream. She assumes that once the TARDIS lands they will be able to say a proper goodbye.

As she gets closer to the spot on the beach that she's pretty sure she remembers, she starts hearing the TARDIS's Song. It is the most beautiful sound in the Universe to Rose Tyler right then, but she can't see the TARDIS anywhere or hear her about to materialise.

Out of thin air, directly in front of her she hears, "Rose. Hello? Rose?"

 _/It's the Doctor, but where is he?/_ she thinks _._  "Doctor?! I can hear you but I can't see anythin'. Are you coming?"

"Oi! Hang-on!"

At that moment an image of the Doctor pops into existence on the beach. An image of her lanky, pinstriped, thinner than she remembers, but grinning Doctor. Just as the image resolves the wind blows the scarf from her head as she tries to stop it.

"Rose!" The Doctor blurts and his face shifts through several expressions.

"Oh Doctor." Turning away Rose, takes a step away before she starts to cry.


	14. Goodbyes Are Hard to Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose meets the Sphynx.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of borrowed dialog from Doomsday.

Chapter 14 Goodbyes are Hard to Do

In the TARDIS, the Doctor sees Rose turn and take a step away from him.

"Rose! Rose, please don't go. Why are you going? I know you just got here. I don't have a lot of time, but please don't leave!" the Doctor is a bit panicked, but calms down some when she turns back to him with a hopeful little glimmer of a smile on her face. The wind tries to blow away her tears.

 _/Oh Rose, what happened? Is she sick? She must be sick? She looks... older, but not. Weird without hair. How long has it been? I know Pete's World is faster, but by how much?/_  The Doctor muses on these questions with part of his mind while giving Rose a smile, putting as much strength in it as he can; she looks like she needs it.

"Where are we? Where did the gap come out?"

"Norway." Rose's heart is breaking. Why isn't he here?

"Norway…" The Doctor says, "Right."

"50 miles out of Bergen. Dårlig Ulv Stranden."

"Dalek?"

"Dårlig. It's Norwegian for bad… This translates as Bad Wolf Bay." They smile at the irony of it.

"Where are you, Doctor?"

"Inside the TARDIS. There's one tiny little gap in the universe left, just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm sorry that that's all it is, by the way. I'm in orbit around a star about to go supernova. I was going to burn up this star just to say goodbye, but we have a new friend, and she's going to help me rescue you. Assuming you want to be rescued. Do you want to come with me, Rose Tyler? Third time's the charm!"

She'd closed her eyes when he said her name, so she didn't immediately see that manic grin that made her knees weak.

She has always loved the way he says her name, and he wants her. He'd just said it, she'd heard 'im. "Yes Doctor, Oh yes!" The other things he said should probably matter, but right now, they didn't. He asked he again.

* * *

While speaking to Rose, the Doctor looks over to the Sphynx with such hope and longing on his face; she knows she can not fail, no matter what. She knows what is about to happen, but he does not. Clamping shut the link between them, she can't let him stop her or worry about all the things that are capable of going wrong in the next few critical moments.

Reaching for her Child, she knows that everything is as ready as it ever can be, so moving towards to the doorway and the breach in the Universe she spreads her wings, and reaches forward for the Parallel Universe through the Howling; not entirely certain of the outcome.

* * *

On Rose's side of the gap, she sees a shimmering dinner plate sized distortion form. "Doctor, what's happening?"

"Truthfully Rose, I have no idea, but I trust the Sphynx, she's our new friend, she and the TARDIS are helping to get you. You can trust her, do whatever...she says...Rose." He sounds unsure, and she looks back at him. He is looking past her at something. Abruptly thrusting his hands in his hair, he looks back to Rose, eyes wide and terrified. "Rose, do you trust me?"

Rose feels a knot of fear in her belly wind a little tighter, but firmly she replies,"Yes, Doctor, but what do I do? I can see the gap on my side, and it's gettin' larger. Should I go through it?"

" **No! No,** Bollocks! No, well, maybe? Rose! I don't know! Wait for the Sphynx!"

**#Doctor/calm down/everything is fine/stop scaring Rose#**

"Rose, the TARDIS says everything is fine, just hang..." The transmission suddenly cuts out and the Doctor is gone from the beach, and Rose is gone from the TARDIS.

" **NO**! What happened?" He starts typing frantically at the keyboard, face almost pressed to the monitor. The star is getting a little erratic, but still stable enough. Unfortunately not stable enough to continue the audio/visual transmission. The carrier signal has to be maintained for the Sphynx to follow as a link for her bridge. He's in this all the way now, and he's just felt the Sphynx close their link down tight.

Trust! He has to trust the Sphynx to make it safely to Rose, he has to trust Rose to trust the Sphynx, and he has to trust that the Universe isn't about to bollocks up the entire endeavour. "Bloody hell!" is all he can manage as he has to keep making minute adjustments to keep them level and transmitting.

* * *

As the Sphynx reaches out through the rift she slowly lets go of her form. Releasing it to return to her component particles and using them to push the rift open further creating a bridge through the Howling to protect Rose. She can see her now on the other side. What she had not expected was how much of herself she would lose to the Howling. She cannot touch the other Universe without dire consequences. Rose will have to reach for her as well. The Howling is tearing and ripping at her, it hurts. She must hurry.

_/Rose! Bad Wolf! Can you hear me? I am the Sphynx. I have come to help your Doctor and my Child recover you. I cannot touch your side, you will have to reach for me. It will hurt Rose, and the final part of the Plan will frighten your Doctor, but we must continue, or this Universe may not survive./_

Bending down to peer through the gap on her side Rose sees what she thinks might be the doors of the TARDIS through a golden, multi-hued haze. The TARDIS's song gets much louder, and she suddenly hears a woman's voice in her head. As the Sphynx's thoughts reach her, her eyes flash golden. She stands up straighter, knowing exactly what must happen. At this moment she is Bad Wolf, and remembers everything her Plan entails. Now is the time. She cannot fail.

Looking behind her toward Mickey and her parents, she lifts a hand and they start running towards her. Mickey swore later that he saw her eyes glow gold before she turned back and thrust her arm in the writhing hole in reality. With a gut-wrenching scream, Rose is gone and the gap snaps shut with a clap of thunder.

Mickey gapes at the sand where Rose's footsteps still show as they reach the spot. Jackie turns and began sobbing in Pete's arms. Pete and Mickey share a look and pray that Rose made it to the Doctor alive and safe, but the scream makes it really hard to keep ahold of that hope.

* * *

Rose feels the Bad Wolf rise up out of some dark corner in her mind as soon as she hears the Sphynx start speaking in her head. She can't really hear their conversation, but she knows she's safe, and that they are fighting for her survival. To Rose it may have been a minute or a year, she can't guess.

She is so tired, so comfortable. Any worries she had, have fled her. The only thought left to her is the Doctor's name, and this she repeats over and over blending it with the Song that is in, around, and through her. Then, everything ceases. It is done. She lets go. With a sigh, Rose Tyler is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only two chapters left before the epilogue. I will start posting the next story soon afterwards. It is also finished, so I'll stick with the same update schedule. Thank you so much for sticking with me. Any feedback would be appreciated, and I hope you've enjoyed this, my first foray into writing. Cheers!


	15. Sacrifices Made

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Solutions that lead to more questions that eventually have answers, just not the expected ones.

Chapter 15 Sacrifices Made

Back in the TARDIS, working at the console, the Doctor snatches looks at the Sphynx. He can see her become less and less coherent, but also stretched. Part of her is still in the TARDIS. He can see the memory of her wings making what looks like a tunnel that reaches out towards and through the rift. He can see the winds of the Void ripping and pulling at the incandescent, translucent tunnel. In his mind he feels the remainder of the link with her slide away, like a caress. He finds himself praying to everything holy for success. Out of nowhere, the cloister bells start ringing.

Eyes snapping back to the monitor _,/_ _ **Now**_ ** _!_** _ **? What's wrong?/**_

**#HELP/STAR/MORE TIME#**

Peering at a different display on the monitor he sees that whatever the Sphynx had done is unraveling. The star is unable to maintain it's current state anymore against its nature, and the pull of energy from it by the TARDIS. Things outside were soon to get very exciting.

"No,no,no,no,no! Not yet! What do I do?" Tugging on his hair as if it's holding his ideas in reserve, the Doctor struggles for options. _/Shutting down the inflow from the star will cut of the available energy to the TARDIS who is using it to hold this very precise position as well as the signal. How much more time is the Sphynx going to need. Does she know?/_

**#KNOWS/ALMO-...DONE!#**

At this the TARDIS lurches to the side, and slams her doors shut. She dematerialises, and moves them into the Vortex getting away from the collapsing star outside all on her own.

The Doctor clutches his head from being yelled at by the TARDIS and squints towards the doors-looking for the Sphynx, for Rose. "ROSE!" He runs down the ramp to the heap of grey at the base of it, throwing himself to his knees. It's the Sphynx. She's wrapped around Rose. Hesitantly, the Doctor reaches out and touches a feather. Her wings fall open and Rose rolls out of her embrace to the grating limp...and lifeless.

" **NO**! ROSE!"the Doctor cries, reaching for her.

The Sphynx stops him. "Doctor. No, please." He barely hears her whisper this, but rips his eyes from Rose's body, with anguish clear in his expression.

The Sphynx is no longer golden, no longer are her wings filled with colour. They are tattered and the feathers (what's left of them) look like ash. The only feature that is unchanged are her eyes. They still look like the roiling surface of the sun they just left, though no longer as bright.  _/We are not finished yet. Believe, Doctor. You will not see me again, I am afraid. This has taken more than I expected, and I am not yet quite done. My Child is with you, as is **this;**  my gift to you._/

With a final gasp, she bursts into a cloud of gold. It hovers for a second, then spreads itself over Rose's unmoving body, glazing her skin. For a moment, Rose looks like she's made of tiny, sparkling gold crystals. Then the gold is gone, dissolving into her body. The Doctor kneels next to Rose fists clenching and unclenching, clearly having no idea what to do...and hating it.

**#Doctor/back up/hurry#**

"What? I don't understand. Rose is...What's goi-" never taking his eyes from Rose's body, longing to touch her, he sees the change begin. He sees the golden mist start to rise from her skin like silent diaphanous fire. "What!?" he asks. He knows exactly what that looks like and it is impossible. " **WHAT**?!"

**#DOCTOR!#**

With the TARDIS' shout, he finally realises that he really does need to back up. He crabs his way backwards up the ramp eyes riveted to the scene before him. The golden fire of regeneration takes ahold of Rose who gasps, her back arching, letting out a piercing scream before the energy reaches its peak and cuts it off. Through the fire the Doctor cannot see how much change she's going through, but he can see that she will now have a full head of hair again, and he feels a little brush against that part of his mind the Sphynx has just vacated. He wonders what else will change. This is definitely classic regeneration...for a Time Lord, erm Lady.

The Doctor nervously watches the fire of regeneration consume his Rose having no idea what the outcome will be.  _/Would she still be his Rose? Would she remember him? Would she want to stay?/_

**#Plan/they knew/safe#**

"They knew? The Sphynx and...BadWolf? This is the part she wasn't telling me! That she had to  _kill_  Rose!" He can't decide how to feel. He's anxious, terrified, angry, hopeful, terrified, shocked, excited, freaked out, and terrified, definitely terrified. He is pretty sure he will settle on freaked out for now though, and leave it there...for now, but angry isn't too far off.

**#you had to die the first time, too#**

The Doctor's head snaps up, and he turns to look at the Time Rotor; anger draining away to be replaced by disbelief.. " **What**?!"

"D-d-doctor?" Whipping his head back around, he looks down towards Rose. Her regeneration is finished, so it should be safe to touch her. Sliding and tumbling back to her side, he reaches out to take her hand.  _/Still fits perfectly,/_ he sighs to himself.

"Rose! I'm here." Looking her over, he sees that she's his Rose +. Her hair is long, slightly waved, but naturally the perfect honey gold that she had previously gotten only from a bottle. Her features are the same, though perhaps more finely formed. She is his Rose; she is perfect. "I'm right here. How do you feel?"

She turns her head more fully towards his voice and opens her eyes. The Doctor gasps. They are the Sphynx's eyes. Rose sighs out a little puff of extra energy, and blinks a couple of times like she's waking up. The next time her eyes focus on him, they are her own light brown, but with flecks of bright gold shining in them.

She smiles up at the Doctor, "I believe, I feel like I've been run over by a truck. Oh, my mouth feels weird, and I sound like you. What happened, Doctor?"

"Weeelll, it seems you regenerated, which should be impossible mind. Not that I'm complaining! And apparently a few things did change, but you look the same...ish.? Which is also interesting." He squeezes her hand and leans in to pick her up. He really should move her to the Zero Room for a few hours. That way she won't have to deal with regeneration sickness like he did that last time.

**#next to infirmary#**

The Doctor sends a silent thanks for that bit of thoughtfulness.

"Oh! I hear the TARDIS! She's so Beautiful." Rose says this with a lovely smile on her face, though she still sounds a little out of it.

_**~My Wolf! I have missed you. My Thief was distraught. We have done so much to get you back. The Matriarch and I have so much still to tell you, but you must rest. Everything will wait a few hours.~** _

Rose hears all this through a warm golden mental embrace filled with a lullaby, and slides right off to sleep.

The Doctor feels like he's missing something, but he'll save it for later. He leans forward, scoops Rose up, and turns, heading to the Zero Room. The TARDIS will have it set just right, and,  _/Rose can nap while I see if I can figure out what just happened./_ Rose Tyler in the TARDIS with the Doctor. So far it's a good day.

* * *

Rose wakes up alone. Her eyes snap open and she sees she's in a softly lit room, floating. Her mind starts to panic, but the memories flood in, and she relaxes, sifting through what happened and piecing together what she can of the past 4 hours, 14 minutes, and 6 seconds since she reached the spot on the beach where she saw the Doctor.  _/That's nifty,/_ she thinks, regarding her new sense of Time.

 _/Okay, I was standing on the beach, my scarf blew off._ / Reaching over she fingers a strand of hair in wonder.  _/Right, I have my hair back, great colour! Soooo, I see the Doctor, he wants me to trust someone, listen to...The Sphynx? Okay, whatever. I hear singing...annnd nothing. The Doctor saying I regenerated? How is that possible? TARDIS?/_ Experimentally, she mentally reaches out for the ship.

In Rose's minds-eye, she sees a female creature walking toward her. The woman shakes out her hair and many-coloured wings smiling. Rose is mesmerised by her eyes, she has never seen anything like them, and they're beautiful.  _/I am the Sphynx Rose, and I left this bit of myself with my Child to answer your questions. You and she have a very special connection. It allows you both to understand each other much more fully than even her Time Lord can./_  Rose chuckles at that. The Doctor would hate it if he knew. The three women share a laugh at that.

"He says I Regenerated. Is that even possible?" The Sphynx smiles again at her.

/ _Yes my Wolf, everything is possible, but it took a lot of doing. You and Bad Wolf planned everything when you looked into my Child and were first unified. You hid part of yourselves in Rose when the Doctor removed the rest. The longer you would have stayed with My Child, the more it would have begun reshaping your physiology to match the Doctors. You would have become fully Gallifreyan, and would regenerate at the end of your first long life, as the Doctor did. But you were ripped from us too soon. There was barely enough augmentation to sustain you in the other Universe, you were in flux. I am so sorry it took us this long to get you. We know you suffered. Bad Wolf knew of the separation, but there was no way to know exactly when it would occur, the duration, or how you would be affected./_

"But why the separation in the first place? How could that be necessary? Wasn't it hard on the Doctor? I know it nearly killed me, even before I got sick." Rose wasn't angry any more. She was getting answers, and she really felt wonderful, so was content to float and play 20 questions for a while longer.

_/Truthfully, my Child understands better, but it was emotional. Indeed, it was most difficult for the Doctor. But he needed to understand how important you are to him, and you needed to learn to be stronger, more independent. You and the Doctor must be good foils for each other, balancing yourselves as you work to rebalance the Universe./_

Taking in a deep breath Rose sees the importance in these semantics. She hadn't enjoyed the process, but she likes the idea of the results. "So we need to save the Universe together then, yeah? I can live with that, but how? It's an awfully big place."

 _/I will show you. The plans I am going to give you now will be stored in your mind and become accessible as you need them; as you finish portions of your tasks./_  Rose closed her eyes and saw streams and streams of images and information flow into her brain. She can feel a portion of her mind cataloguing and arranging all the data to access later when it would be needed, storing everything behind locked doors with different Gallifreyan symbols on them.

"That's clever. This must be what the Doctor's mind looks like, assuming it is a Time Lord thing, but I can read the symbols now, they make sense!"

 _/Yes, and all the knowledge I received from my Child I have also made yours. You are a Time Lady now Rose. It is my gift to you and to the Doctor. You will have plenty of Time to do what is necessary, and I guarantee it will be fun./_  The Sphynx says this last with a copy of her own tongue-in-teeth grin, knowing that she has given the Doctor more than just his Rose.

"Wow! Thank you. I don't know what to say. Will I get to meet you properly, or are you only in my head? Does the Doctor know that I am..am a Time Lady? " She put her hands to her chest and sure enough, two hearts. She could also feel the weight of knowledge she now has in her bigger Time Lord-y brain.

The TARDIS helpfully points out, ~ _ **It is all there my Wolf. Soon we will begin your studies. Can't let the Doctor have all the fun!~**_

/ _The Doctor is going to flip! My mum will.../_  "Oh god! Mum! She has no idea I survived. She'll think I'm dead!" Tears spring into Rose's eyes at this.

_/Yes Rose, and I am sorry, but soon you will have opportunity to see her again, in person. That is all I can say. The Doctor does not yet fully know what you are, but he will soon. Do not worry. I apologise Rose, but we may never meet in person. I utilised a great deal of myself to help you over, and gave you the entirety of the physical form I made, to finish what the Child and Bad Wolf started. I must...recover. This last bit of coherence is taxing enough./_

"You mean you sacrificed yourself for me. Thank you! I know we won't ever be able to to repay..." Rose is definitely crying now, knowing that this amazing entity sacrificed herself for a stranger; for her and for her Doctor.

 _/Rose! I would do it again and again if it was necessary. The Universe requires you and the Doctor. That is reason enough. I am of this Universe Rose Tyler, and I would do anything for it. In this case that was rescuing you. Now, go be worth it/_  The Sphynx says this last with a teasing mental swat.

As the Sphynx turns and starts to move away, Rose calls after her, "Thank you, thank you for everything." With a backwards glance the Sphynx grins at Rose, and with a spreading of wings and a flick of her tail, she bursts into a cloud of gold and is gone.

_/Well that was dramatic./_

_**~You should have seen the look on the Doctor's face when the Matriarch first appeared in the Console Room!~** _

The TARDIS shared the images with Rose and they are both giggling as the Doctor peers around the corner of the door to check on Rose.

"'allo Rose! I see you're awake. That's brilliant! Were you and the TARDIS just...giggling? How are you feeling? The star has turned into a lovely supernova, but I couldn't really figure out what the Sphynx did to it. It left all kinds of traces dimensionally, but none of it made sense. Instead the TARDIS and I have been fixing Her bits. Isn't that right ol' girl?" He walks over to Rose as the TARDIS slowly sets her back on her feet. The TARDIS snorts a reply to Rose and flickers the lights for the Doctor.

Taking Rose's hand, he looks at it in his, and completely forgets what he was saying. "I...erm..well...you...umm," He looks up at her and the pleased grin changes to a look in his big chocolate eyes that is so vulnerable, so worried, that tears spring once again into Rose's eyes, and she throws herself at him for a hug. It feels so right, so good. "Oh, I missed you!" _  
_

The Doctor hangs on for dear life rocking back and forth murmuring to her, hardly believing that he is here on his TARDIS, hugging his Rose. Yup, second best day ever! "Rose."

Rose is breathing in the spicy time-laced scent that is her Doctor and whispering how much she missed him into his lapels when she feels him stiffen.

Half-stepping away from Rose but not letting her go, the Doctor is staring at her with wide alarmed eyes. "Rose. Infirmary. Now."

"Excuse me?" Is all she can get out before he's dragging her from the white room to the sterile infirmary, through a door that hadn't been there a moment ago. "Doctor, wait. What are you doing?"

"Something's wrong, Rose. I need to see what. Right. Now!" he says worriedly, bodily picking her up and depositing her on the exam table. He runs around the room pulling over pieces of equipment that he arranges over and at her.

Rolling her eyes, Rose tolerates this. She has had a lot of experience in exam rooms recently, and she has learned patience. A skill that she was in short supply of three years ago.  _/He's damned lucky I'm feeling good today./_  The TARDIS chuckles in her head.

**_~He worries for you. He is still half afraid that you will disappear in a puff of smoke.~_ **

Sighing,  _/I know the feeling./_

Flicking on switches and powering up the equipment, the Doctor tries to hide his fear from Rose by jumping from unit to unit keeping a grin half plastered to his face. He felt something hard on her chest under her clothes, and something else that wasn't quite right, and he needs to know what is wrong. He can't loose her, not now. A flash of Rose bald on the beach with a scarf in her hand runs through his mind.  _/She's been ill./_  The thought makes him feel like vomiting. He will fix this.

Pulling out his spectacles, he peers at the now working monitors in front of him and nearly loses his mind when it goes ding with its finalised report.

On the Screen in front of him printed quite clearly in Gallifreyan, next to the lines and graphs of physiological processes: Rose Marion Tyler-Gallifreyan-Time Lady: First Regeneration. Remaining Regenerations: 12.

 _/_ _ **WHAT!**_ _No, really?, no. That can't be right./_  Picking up the hand held part of the scanner and running it down himself quickly, he looked back at the monitor. He knew he had received more regenerations from the Council during the Time War(everyone did), but with all the timeline degradations, it hadn't occurred to him to see what he had left. The monitor showed him what he expected...his name/known as the Doctor-Gallifreyan-Time Lord: Eleventh Regeneration.

And then the not so expected...Remaining Regenerations: 12


	16. New Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the Doctor continues to learn impossible things.

Chapter 16 New Beginnings

 

 _/_ _ **WHAT!? WHEN**_ _?...not possible...totally not possible...how?/_  These thoughts crash through the Doctor's mind like a train. Gripping a piece of nearby equipment, the Doctor tries his best to pant his way to understanding without actually fainting.  _/Time Lords do_ _ **NOT**_ _faint!/_

**#The Matriarch's gift/impossible?/snort#**

The TARDIS jingles her amusement at him wondering when he'll stop using that word. The images that accompany this are of Rose regenerating, but also the Sphynx touching his head, what now feels like years ago, and with a flash of gold he was asleep in his bed.  _/Blimey! That's why I slept so long, she gave me A WHOLE NEW SET OF REGENERATIONS! But...but why?/_

**#Rose and Doctor/purpose/universal balance#**

_/Really?! Well as long as it isn't anything important! No pressure!/_

_**#rude!#** _

* * *

The Doctor had been bouncing around like his trainers were on fire, which made Rose smile. Then he pulled out his brainy-specs,  _/they are sooo sexy/._  Flushing at her thought, she looks down at her hands. _/Focus, Rose! You haven't even been here a day. Plenty of time to figure stuff out. Let him have his moment to be impressive. -smirk-/_

It did not take her but a few moments to notice silence on the other side of the equipment from her after the ding. Looking over she sees her Doctor with both hands in his hair, eyebrows raised, his mouth hanging open in a surprised 'O', and his eyes so wide that she can see the entirety of his iris through his specs.

"Doctor what is it, what's wrong?" Starting to slide from the table, the Doctor stops her.

"Rose! No! Umm... just hang on...scanner bein' weird. Just stay there. Be right with you. Just need to check..."

_**~He just noticed you're definitely a Time Lady.~** _

_/Oh. Is that all? Guess I'll be the impressive one first./_  -eye-rolling-

Taking a couple of deep breaths, he looks back to the scanners and support units. Choosing to completely ignore that first monitor for now, he looks at her full body scan, and sees a disturbing piece of tubing in her chest leading towards her left heart,  _/Oh god, she has two now!/_ (confirming what the first monitor said) and a plug portion... This can be very dangerous for her, reminding him of his regeneration from his Seventh to Eighth. Luckily, she was still within the regenerative grace period, but he has to get that...that...suddenly he knows exactly what  _that_  is. He has to get that picc-line and port out of Rose's chest.

Doing his best to regain some composure, he comes around one of the scanners pushing it away from Rose, and sits on the edge of the table next to her. Without thought he takes her hand again. "Rose? Were you sick in Pete's World? Were you getting treatments? How long were you there?" He isn't looking forward to any of these answers, but he needs them, no matter how difficult they will be.

 _/Oh. I was worried something was actually wrong,/_ she thinks before answering.

"Doctor, I was in Pete's world for three years." He grows pale at her words, but she keeps going, "It was the third year when they told me I had cancer. It started with bad vertigo, and I then got really weak. The Doctors at Torchwood told me I wasn't quite human anymore and the alien parts of me were at war with the human parts."

She feels him stiffen at the mention of Torchwood. Tightening her grip on his hand, she reassures him, "No, Doctor! Torchwood is different there. My dad, Pete, is the Director. He makes them good. We did good work, keeping the Earth safe."

Taking a deep breath she continues answering his questions, "Yes, I was getting regular chemotherapy treatments. Nothing worked for long. Something in my body would make the drugs inert after a while, and they would have to come up with something different. It was the best they could figure out with no one to ask. I was on my fifth round of experimental chemo, and it was delivered through this picc-line." She pulled the collar of her shirt down, and there it was.

He hated it. Hated seeing it marring her skin, he had to get it out. "Rose. I'm so, so sorry. The Sphynx said that there was a portion of the Bad Wolf energy left in you, that...that,(  _/Can't tell her everything. Don't want to scare her. She may not have noticed anything major yet...well other than hair./)_  I missed after Satellite 5. It must be what went wrong when you were stuck in Pete's World. The problem though is that I have to get the picc-line out. The chemotherapy and the cancer are gone. The regeneration took care of that, but I need to remove the port and the line. It is keeping your new cardiovascular system from working properly. By the way you have two hearts now; just like me ha ha ha.." He says that last, all breezy, but a little hysterically like he is trying to not make a big deal of it.

That did it. Rose has had just a little too much emotional turmoil in the last few days, and part of her snaps.  _/Idiot! It is a huge deal. He still thinks of me like I'm merely a stupid ape! Well. I'll take care of that. He needs to understand that I know exactly what's going on, and I made this choice./_

_**~Be nice, my wolf. He is still delicate.~** _

_/Yes, dear. I'll try to not clobber him too hard._ /

They share an inner smile before Rose gives the Doctor a third hearts-attack for the day.

* * *

Rose grew still and quiet. Normally this should have been a warning sign, but the Doctor was just still a little too distracted and out of practice to be reading anyone else's signals at the moment. Dropping the Doctor's hand and getting up from the table, Rose walks over to a counter and cabinet removing the exact items the TARDIS tells her she'll need, laying them out neatly on the countertop. Hopping up onto the counter, Rose starts to perform the simple procedure on herself to the specifications the TARDIS is showing her in her mind.

As she hops up onto the counter, the Doctor who had previously followed her with his confused eyes, now gets up and heads towards her. "Rose! What are you doing?! You have to be..."

"Doctor, please sit down and wait a moment. I'm a touch busy here." Injecting herself with the local, she follows all the directions and has the port and picc-line out and the tissue regenerated in under 2.6 minutes. / _That felt weird! N_ ot too shabby though, eh Dear?/

With a chiming laugh in her mind, she looks over at the Doctor who again has wide eyes and mouth agape.

"Doctor, your mouth is hanging open a lot today, is it broken?," She says this teasingly.

With a click he snaps he mouth shut. "Rose, how did you know...how could you...Rose..." Now he is pacing the infirmary, and she can see that he is getting more and more agitated. "Rose! I don't think...," he starts angrily.

She hops off the counter, walking over to the Doctor and taking his hand in hers. "Doctor, please stop a second. I'm sorry. Please, listen to me. Doctor, I know; I  **know**  everything, now. When I was waking up the Sphynx came to me in my head and explained everything. I know what I am, and I know how I got here. Not all the details. I don't remember exactly what happened between the beach and the floor of the TARDIS, and I still don't remember anything between you kissing me on Satellite 5 and again waking up again in the TARDIS, but I know it was my choice.  **My choice** , and I would make it every time."

"But Rose, I...the Sphynx...Bad Wolf...You were dead, Rose! When the Sphynx brought you through, you died." He gets all this gasped out with a hearts-wrenching look telling Rose just how upset he is.

Deciding she can't keep holding back, she spills everything she's thinking, "Doctor, do you know what I was thinking on that beach looking for you?" The Doctor shakes his head, but there are tears in his eyes now. "I was thinking that you probably wouldn't want me; sick and feeble. Can't run, like that. Please! Doctor, let me finish." Squeezing his hand, she says this when he starts to protest her words.

"But you see, that was okay, because even if you left me, I was at least going to have the opportunity to tell you, that I love you, Doctor. I think since the word, 'Run', and I needed you to know that you were loved. You have to know!" Rose can't help it, she has tears coursing down her face as she takes both his hands and places them over her hearts, reinforcing her feelings. She has just laid herself bare, and he can do as he pleases with that information. It feels good just to finally say it. She will even try to be okay with just being friends, if that's all he needs, now that she's here, but it is important to her that he knows honestly how she feels; no matter the consequences.

_/My Rose. She really is my Rose. She just told me she loves me...after everything that has happened and she still loves me. How can I ever deserve her. Of course, I am the person I am today because of her, but... Bloody hell! Rose is a Time Lady!/_

_**#idiot#** _

With an inner wink at the TARDIS and a cry of joy, the Doctor picks her up, spinning them around with her in the air. Setting her down with his manic grin in place, mercurial as ever, "Rose Tyler, I tried for a year to reach you. This was my last chance; I was coming to tell you good-bye. I meant that part on the beach. I couldn't have reached you. The rift was too small, all I had was power enough to tell you good-bye, have a fantastic life, and...and Rose Tyler, if it was going to be my last chance to say it...I lov..."

From the doorway to the console room they hear a shriek.

"Ahhhhhh! Where am I?"

The Doctor and Rose look at each other with wide eyes, "What?" he asks quizzically, running to the doorway. They both look out to see a red-haired woman in...a wedding dress? She has just stood up and has a large multi-colored feather in her hand.

As they reach the door she sees them, and yells, "Who are you?"

"What?" Rose asks of no one in particular.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS PLACE?" the red-head bellows.

Glancing one last time at each other before they go figure out who, what, and how this all happened, they share a smile. There will be plenty of time later for them to figure out all the particulars. Right now everything is right in the Universe. The Doctor and Rose Tyler in the TARDIS with... the Doctor's eyes widen when he sees the feather in her hand.

"WHAT!?" He yells back at her.

~Finis~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I borrowed a tiny bit of dialog from Runaway Bride, as I'm sure you noticed. Thank you so much for reading. There is a wee little Epilogue I will go ahead and publish, but this is the end of the story proper. Thank you for reading, and tomorrow I will start posting the sequel Crash Course: Time Lord 101.


	17. Epilogue: Cosmic Renewal

Epilogue Cosmic Renewal

Drifting slowly amongst incandescent clouds of gas, She rests. There are explosions, implosions, pulses, and flashes all around her in this stellar nursery.

She likes being surrounded by the creative forces in this beautiful Universe of Hers. She doesn't really have the energy for coherence currently. Lazily soaking up ions, radiation, quarks, and plasma...the stray dusting of cosmic renewal. It will take Time, but eventually She will be able to replace the portions of herself She sacrificed to the Howling and to Rose.

She is too tired for fun. Spinning with, in, and around this new galaxy for a few aeons will do it. She wonders how beautiful that star must have been when it blew. She will have to go look...sometime...later.

For now, She is happy. Her Universe is safer, and She knows...It was all worth it.

Rose Tyler and the Doctor, stuff of Legends.


End file.
